In an Instant
by candi711
Summary: It only took an instant for her mother to be taken away from her, if it wasn't for Bruce Wayne she would have ended up in foster care. When things finally seem to be going good for Artemis shadows from her past come back to haunt her. Traces of Spitfire and Robin/Zatanna
1. Chapter 1

**Hi :) this is my first story like ever! I have never written anything that was not assigned in school. I hope you like it :) sorry if the characters are ooc please review and tell me what you think. Should I continue or not? **

**Disclaimer: I do not own young justice, any of its characters or any characters in the D.C Universe **

Artemis was pushing her mom down a busy street in Gotham, It was hot and Artemis really felt like she had better places to be like training at the cave with the rest of the team. Don't get her wrong she loved being with her mom, but shopping uhg… plus the rest of the team were perfecting the new moves Black Canary taught them. The last time she missed a training session Wally wiped the floor with her and she will NEVER let that happen again.

Across the street a reporter and camera man were interviewing people "Look over there, it looks like channel 5 is doing a live report about that new restaurant" said Paula

Artemis just nodded and kept walking. "So mom what store do you want to look at next" trying to sound enthusiastic but failing. Paula sighed "I know you don't want to hang out with me, but please let me just buy you some new cloths so I won't feel like a failure of a mother"

"You're not a failure, your….." just as Artemis was speaking a car sped around the corner. It all happened so fast, Paula jumped out of her wheel chair tackling Artemis to the floor rite when the car started shooting up their side of the street.

"Well Chris I think this place is….. ow my god" the news caster yelled as she hit the floor out of fear. The camera man caught the whole thing. A woman in a wheel chair nocked a girl out of the way and took three bullets to the back.

It was pure mayhem there were people everywhere on the floor screaming some not moving and others clutching injured body parts. The camera man was not interested in all that though, he focused his camera on a blonde girl screaming to her dying mother "did you see that Bob?" said the reporter "yeah"

"Mom! Mom! Please stay with me! Mom!" Artemis was cradling her mother's head in her lap trying to get her to open her eyes. Paula looked up and smiled slightly, she reached her hand to Artemis' face

"I am so proud of you, of what you do and who've you become"

"mom don't talk like that your going to be ok the paramedics are coming"

"Tell Jade that I always loved her and wish she will find herself a better life" Artemis tried to hold back the tears, her mom had lost a lot of blood and deep down she knew she was not going to make it. "bạn là ánh sáng của tôi tỏa sáng trong bóng tối" Paula said in Vietnamese as her eyes closed gently and her hand fell limp. Artemis did not even bother trying to hold back her tears, she stayed holding her mother's limp form until the paramedics pulled her away

break line

Dick stepped out of the shower drying his hair and then wrapping the towel around his waist. He and Batman just came back from a tiring mission involving Poison Ivy, which explains him not being at the cave with the rest of his team. It did not matter if he was there or not he already mastered the moves and can easily wipe the floor with Wally's butt.

Dick continued his usual after mission routine by getting dressed while watching the news, he loved to hear what they say about Batman and Robin when they put another criminal in Gotham Asylum. This time however the news was not about them but a drive-by that happened only a few minutes ago. Dick clenched his fist angry how thugs always drag innocent civilians into their petty fights. He froze the remote dropping to the floor with a loud thump, everything in the room faded away except for the plasma screen and the images on it.

"Bruce!" Dick yelled running through the mansion and nearly taking out Alfred when he burst into the living room "What in heaven's name is the matter" said their trust worthy butler and friend, "where's Bruce!"

"I am right here. What is it that's so important" Bruce said walking in the room with an annoyed look on his face.

"quick turn on the news" Dick yelled heart still racing. Alfred turned on channel 5 "oh dear god" he immediately realized why the young master was so upset.

"we are live at what started as a peaceful day turned into a mascara" the news woman reported "at this moment there are 4 confirmed dead, 11 in critical condition and 28 wounded"

Behind her to the right they saw Commissioner Gordon holding back there archer as two paramedics try to save her mother. It was painstakingly obvious even though the tv that the woman would not live. Their fear was confirmed when the paramedics shook their heads and placed a tarp over her body.

"Alfred ready the car" the butler silently left to bring the car to the front.

break line

Commissioner Gordon had finally convinced Artemis to let the paramedics look at her. She had so much adrenaline pumping though her she did not even notice that a bullet had hit her. It just grazed her right arm but left I nasty looking wound.

"I am fine really! Just leave me alone" Artemis said after having her arm wrapped up. She was in shock she understands what's happening around her but she feels numb. This all felt like a really bad dream, like her alarm will wake her up any second and her mom will be alive again.

Gordon feels at a lost, here in front of him is one of his daughter's friends, he has met her a few times before and in his opinion was a great kid. Every time he saw her she was proud strong and sarcastic much like his own daughter, but now all he saw was a scared child trying to look strong but was utterly broken.

"Artemis you have to go to the hospital"

"I don't have to do anything. I am not leaving my mom" she said looking towards the area she knows her mom still lays.

"Artemis she's gone" Gordon whispered holding her tight in his arms "but I promise your not alone". After a few more minutes he finally got her to agree to go to the hospital on the condition that he came with her. He felt that it was his duty as a father to be there for her so he left leaving Harvey Bullock in charge.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own young justice **

The hospital was ablaze will doctors and nurses running from patient to patient. Gotham city Hospital has always been crowded with people but today was probably the worst in several years. It was not just one street that was shot up but seven and that's not all, robberies and murders happened all over the city at the same time. In two hours' there were 10 homicides 28 local store robberies and 3 bank robberies that the police are aware of.

Gordon had to leave Artemis as soon as she got to the hospital for Gotham was in a crisis and every available officer was needed in the field.

"I'll kill them I swear I am going to kill them" Artemis said pacing back and forth as soon as the nurse left her side. The shock was gone but was now replaced with the irresistible desire for revenge.

"Artemis!" she barely had enough time to turn around before she was grabbed into a hug. With arms stronger than one would expect from a boy his size Dick was nearly squeezing the life out of her.

After the long awkward hug all Dick was able to say was "how are you doing?"

"How am I doing? How do you think I am doing! My mom was just killed in front of me! I was shot in the arm and dragged to this stupid hospital while those thugs are getting away!"

With every word she spoke her voice got higher and movements faster. Dick just stood there he understood that she was in pain; pain he's all too familiar with. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just I feel so many things but at the same time I feel nothing"

"I know exactly how you feel and what you're going through" Artemis knew he did like most of Gotham she knew the tragic past of Richard Grayson. "Just know you're not alone I am hear for you and so is Alfred and Bruce" Artemis looked up and saw the butler for the first time since Dick walked in but however she noticed that Bruce was not there, probably had some important business to attend to.

**Break line**

"Batman thank goodness your hear. What in the heck is happening with Gotham?" Gordon said to the dark knight as he was stepping out of the shadows. "It's like all of the criminals decided to run wild at the same time"

"It's more than that; all these crimes are coordinated happening in places where the police will have the hardest time to deal with them" said Batman as he stopped right in front of the commissioner "someone is pulling the strings"

"Do you know who or why they are doing this?"

"Not yet, but I am going to find out" and with that dark knight was gone

**Break line**

"Artemis, I talked to Bruce he said he will take care of all the funeral cost and that you could stay with us for as long as you want" Artemis was shocked. Ya he was her friend but they only knew each other for a few months and she only ever met Bruce twice so why are they being so nice in offering to take her in.

"I couldn't do that it would be too much of a bother, I'll think of something" she could probably stay at mount justice for a while, but truth be told she's not thinking about any of that the only thing she want now is to make those bastards pay.

"There is no possible way you could be more of a bother than Master Dick" Alfred said ignoring the look Dick was giving him "and there is plenty of room at the manor"

"Plus Bruce already made the arrangements with child services; it was either that or going into the foster care system" Dick added before she could respond

Artemis was speechless, which Wally will agree that's nearly impossible to do, never in her life as anyone cared for her like that not even her own family excluding her mom of course. Mom, at the thought a new wave of emotion washed over her "O.K I guess it won't be so bad staying in a mansion for a few nights" she agreed but mostly because she wanted to get out of the hospital it smelled to much like death for her.

"You'll love it there Alfred makes the best food and his cookies are to die for" Dick stopped '_Stupid! Stupid! Stupid_!' he thought "Sorry bad choice of words"

Artemis said nothing just smiled slightly, a smile that was clearly forced, and walked out the door.

**Break line **

Four men got out of a car in a seemingly abandoned warehouse "wow I can't believe we got away with it so easily" the driver said to the other men

"That's cuz boss told us which route to take to stay away from the police" another said "that was the easiest grand I've ever made"

"And you can make more if you keep following my instructions" said a voice in the corner of the room

"Did you take out the targets?" the man in the corner asked "yep got 'em all, but why was it so important to take out that woman on public t.v?" there was a low growl that clearly meant there boss was annoyed from the question

"Don't question the boss" the henchmen stated as he elbowed the first one in the stomach

"Pain and humiliation" "hugh" all the men looked up they didn't understand what that meant but they didn't care not as long as they kept getting paid.

**A/N: My thanks goes out to SuperGLEEK97, PONITAPG, a Tale with Ears, and Super-Nerd01** **for reviewing my story** **and giving me courage to continue writing it :) right after I put up the first chapter I was freaking out thinking it was such a stupid idea and should not of posted it lol. Happy Easter :) and for those who don't celebrate Happy Sunday **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not and never will own young justice or any D.C character **

It's been three day since Artemis first came to Wayne Manor and let's just say she's not having the best experience. The manor is the biggest house she has ever been in well invited in anyway, when she was younger her father would send her to the rich side of Gotham to test her skills against their security systems. There are so many doors and hallways that it once took her an hour to find the room she was given, and then there's Dick. Artemis knows he means well but the kid just wont let her be alone its like he's afraid that she'll disappear when he's not looking. He's right of course the moment Dicks leaves her alone she going out to find the men that killed her mother.

"I can't believe how clingy Grayson is. If this is how its going to be I don't think I can stay here" Artemis said to herself as she was climbing out her window. "I would rather stay at the cave were I know I'd be able to train and be a hero much easier than if I stayed here"

It only took her a few minutes to get to the rougher side of Gotham which strangely gave her a sense of ease. With quick and efficient movement Artemis spun around with her bow drawn and arrow pointed at the shadow arcos the roof "step out slowly"

"Whoa its me Robin" said the boy wonder as he walked towards her

Artemis sighed as she dropped her stance "what are you doing here"

"Isn't that what I'm supposed to ask you?" Robin chuckled out as he stopped in front of her "it might look a little strange if Green Arrow's side kick is running around Gotham by herself" he paused before continuing "I know what happened to your mom and I'm here to help"

Artemis looked at him for a few moments then smiled "ok but I'm the one who gets to take them down"

"Don't worry the honors all yours" Robin said showing her his pearly whites "so do you have any leads"

"No" Artemis stated dejectedly

"Well it's a good thing I'm here than" Robin said as he was typing away on his wrist computer "it pays to be the protégé of the world's best detective" with that said he started running and jumped to the next building with Artemis right behind him.

In no time at all they were in the Raggers territory the gang that Robin deduced the shooters was a part of.

Robin stopped running and looked over the building with one foot on the edge "So I heard you're staying at Wayne manor and that Mr. Wayne is thinking about adoption"

"What are you talking about they're just letting me stay their out of pity, I have barley seen Bruce let alone say more than five words to him"

"It's not out of pity, Bruce really does care for you it's just… he has a weird way of showing affection, plus he's busy trying to find out about the people who killed your mom and all those other people"

"That sounds just like the white night of Gotham always trying to make this city a better place" she said as she folded her arms "besides if I do stay there how am I supposed to stay on the team? It was hard enough trying to get out tonight"

"Well about that" Robin started with a smirk on his face "I'm not supposed to tell you this yet but…"

A yell of terror broke through their conversation. Artemis and Robin looked at each other then ran swiftly to the ally they heard the scream from. On the floor there was a man, obviously part of the Raggers, furiously backing away from something that was further in the alleyway. The two heroes watched as the man almost got hit by a car as he ran into the street. They turned to each other than to the ally and walked down it weapons ready for an attack.

What they saw stopped them in their tacks their eyes widening as they realized just what they were seeing. Four men hanging lifeless upside down by their feet, a puddle of blood was gathering below them. Their faces held such terror that you almost could hear their agony and screams from beyond the grave. Their hands dangling below their heads were gone, bloods just pouring out from them, a gag in their moths to ensure no one could hear them scream.

"It's them… the bastards that killed my mom… but who did this"

"Who do you think little sis?" both Robin and Artemis looked up to see a shadow on the roof above them; they quickly climbed the fire escape to find the roof empty.

"A fitting death for such lowly creatures don't you agree" came a voice from the opposite building

"Jade" Artemis whispered as both she and Robin readied themselves for a fight.

"I did not come here to fight you two just to get some revenge"

"Revenge like you even cared what happened to mom or to this family" Artemis said with venom

"Think what you want but I tried to protect her just like I'm trying to protect you"

"I haven't needed your help for the last six years and I don't need it now" with that Artemis let go three arrows straight at her sister as she jumped to the next building. Cheshire was easily able to dodge the arrows and the kick coming her way and throw Artemis across the roof. Robin threw two bird arrange as Artemis hit the cement one landing right at Cheshire's feet and blowing up. When the smoke cleared nothing was there, Robin readied another bird arrange but before he could even think about throwing it he was placed in a head lock with a poisoned knife to his neck.

Artemis was ready to fire another arrow when Cheshire spoke "I came here to warn you and this is how you repay me. Drop your bow or the bird will be sleeping like a rock for the next few days" Artemis complies and throws down her bow all the while giving a glare batman would be proud of.

"What do you mean you came here to warn her" Robin said almost sounding like he did not care there was a knife being held to his throat. Cheshire looked down at the boy wonder and pushed him towards Artemis taking of her mask in the process.

"Everything that happened in the last few days is bigger than you probably think, not even I have been told what they are planning but I do know the orders are coming straight from the top" Jade spoke while looking from Artemis to Robin "the people that were killed were in the way of their future plans even mom" she stops and looks directly at Artemis "and **he** is one of the people in charge of running the operation"

"Why are you bothering to tell us this" asked Robin

"As I said before I'm trying to protect my sister" with that Jade put her mask back on and threw smoke pellets at her feet, when the smoke cleared Cheshire was gone.

**A/N: that scene with the four men was inspired by one of my teachers, in class he was talking about committing crime in distress meaning they have someone you care about as a hostage and well me and my cousin were starting to be freaked out at how detailed he was :) Thanks so much to justlookup, Super-Nerd01, and SuperGLEEK97** **for reviewing my last chapter and everyone else for taking the time to read it :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not and never will own Young Justice**

Far within a damp cave sat a man hunched over a desk deep in thought while intently looking at the computer screen in front of him. A shadow was steadily approaching the man from behind "What is it Alfred" Batman said without taking his eyes of the screen

"I thought I should inform you that Master Dick and Miss Artemis have left for a night on the town" the butler said as he came to stand besides Batman

Batman gave the butler an annoyed look "I clearly told Robin not to let her leave the manor and I thought you would have enough sense to stop them"

"While you have been down here investigating they have been suffering up there. People like them do not handle being confined in doors for long periods of time, not when they feel there is something they need to do. You of all people should understand that."

Batman removed the cowl from his face and sighed "I know. I want to help Artemis and I am sure this is bringing back painful memories for Dick but there is something big going on and I have yet to determine exactly what it is"

"Perhaps it is time to include Robin and Artemis in your investigation" Alfred stated as if that was the most obvious answer.

"_Robin to Batman come in Batman"_ the conversation was interrupted with a radio message _"what is Robin" "Artemis and I found those responsible for her mother's murder but they were all killed before we got to them"_

"_Who was it?"_

For a moment no one spoke then _"it was Cheshire, and she gave us some information"_

"_Very well both you and Artemis return to the cave I have some information to share as well"_

**Break line**

Robin had just finished talking to Batman "he wants us to meet him at the batcave" Artemis gave him a confused look "the what now?"

"batcave" Robin repeated "don't worry it's cooler than it sounds"

"What? Next you're going to tell me that there's a batdog"

"Well I've been trying to convince Batman but he's adamantly against it" Robin said with the biggest smile on his face

Smile. A thought forced its why into Artemis' head; she knows she's seen that smile somewhere else but it can't be.

"Race you to the cave" Artemis looked up as Robin started running "loser has to go to the mall with M'egan"

"Wait I don't even know where it is"

Robin looked back and gave her a grin that said _"I know" _

**Break line**

"I am not taking M'egan to the mall" Artemis yelled but stopped as she got a good look at the hideout. She could not help but to stare in awe. It really was a cave and a huge one at that; it looked like it could be four stores tall easy. On one side of the cave there was a huge penny and a dinosaur along with other weird looking objects and trinkets. _"So kid flash is not the only one who collects souvenirs" _she thought.

"You lost the race so that means…" Robin stopped talking after he noticed her not even paying attention to him anymore.

"If both of you are done playing around come up here and let's get to work" Batman said as he jolted Artemis out of her revere. She followed Robin as he led the way to the upper levels.

As they made it to the third level Artemis stopped in her tracks "Al! What is Al doing in the batcave?" she said as she was pointing a finger at the butler.

"Well if I was not here than those two would surly have starved to death or drowned in an ocean of their own dirty laundry by now"

Batman turned around revealing his unmasked face as Bruce Wayne. Artemis was glad Wally was not there to see her reaction to the news. "bu..bu..but then" she faced Robin who was in the middle of taking off his mask to reveal those beautifully blue eyes of his "I guess we could laugh about it now"

If she wasn't in shock she would face-palm herself. She lived with them for three days, went to school with Dick every day for the last few months, and it was even the Wayne foundation that paid for her scholarship, one that she did not even apply for. She was mentally yelling at herself there were so many clues she just brushed off as coincidences she should have figured it out.

"Let's get to business" Batman interrupted her train of thought. Artemis took a deep breath _"ok time to focus I'll beat Robin up about this later" _she thought as she nodded her head.

Robin recounted the events that happened in the ally way and the roof top with Cheshire. Batman just stood there listening deep in thought. "If Sportsmaster is involved then it's more than likely that the shadows are behind all the trouble around Gotham" batman typed some keys and several profiles popped on screen "these are some of the victims that have been killed in the last three days and based on the info you gave me I believe they were killed to be silenced and get them out of the way to make it easier to kidnap there real targets."

"Kidnap who did they kidnap?" Robin asked. Batman typed some more keys and nine pictures took the place of the profiles.

"Nine teenagers ages 13 to 19 five boys and four girls, all come from similar back grounds either broken families or orphans and they were all taken the same way"

"Do we have any idea why they were taken?" Artemis asked

"As of yet the only solid connection I could find was a children's group they all attended call The Light of Tomorrow. It's a program for under privileged children here in Gotham."

"_Light of Tomorrow why does that sound so familiar"_ Artemis thought but the more she tried to remember where she heard it the more her head. She put her hand to head and fell to her knees Dick ran to her side

"Artemis what's wrong? Artemis" she could barely hear Dick as the darkness pulled her into an inviting rest.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter it took me the longest to write but that's because there were a lot of distractions :) thank you to rogue42197, SuperGLEEK97, Super-Nerd01 for reviewing.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of young justice**

"_**italicized in quotes=thoughts"**_

_Music and laughter filled the cool night air, there looked to be over a hundred people gathered in a large rose garden. White Christmas lights were wrapped around posts, trees, and were running zigzagged above the guests head. The lights were neither to bright or dim creating the perfect ambiance for a wedding. The moon was a beautiful crescent shape and the night was so clear you could see all the stars in the sky._

_A little girl who looked like she could be five or six sat at a table by herself with her legs to her chest and arms wrapped around them. Artemis did not know the people getting married; she did not know anyone there besides her own family. _

"_Why did I have to come too, there are no kids here and I hate wearing stupid dresses. How come I couldn't stay at home with Jade?" she asked to no one in particular _

_Artemis stopped complaining to herself long enough to look up and find her parents on the dance floor. Her mother moved with the speed and grace that made every woman at the wedding jealous. Her father was expertly leading his wife in an array of fast past movements, the way they danced made it seem like they defied gravity almost as if their feet never touched the ground. _

_The fast paced song ended and for the first time the pair was able to realize that there were other people on the dance floor, most in a semicircle around them so they could admire there dancing. As a slow song started to play Paula grabbed her husband's neck and whispered something in his ear. Laurence nodded and made his way to Artemis' table._

_He got down on one knee so he was eyelevel with his daughter "Would you like to dance?" Laurence asked her as he held out one hand which she took instantly. Artemis didn't know how to dance like her parents did but anything seemed better than sitting alone at a table._

_Her father led her to the dance floor and they began to sway with the music. _

"_May I join this dance?" Artemis turned around to see her mother right behind her. The next thing she knew she was in her father's arm as her mother joined them. Artemis happily snuggled between her parents; she has never felt so safe and warm as she did that night. _

Artemis popped up in bed she turned her head franticly trying to figure out where she was and what happened.

"Whoa Artemis its okay you're in your room, you suddenly passed out in the cave remember" Dick said casually with one hand up in a peaceful gesture and the other behind his back.

"What made me pass out?" Artemis said as she rubbed her eyes trying to make it look like she was rubbing the sleep out, but in truth she was wiping any tears away from them.

"Bruce thinks its all the stress you've been under, plus you've hardly eaten anything, and the fact that you've only slept a few hours combined in the last couple nights" Dick explained "I was starting to get worried. You were sleeping like you were in a coma for the last twelve hours.

"Twelve hours! So it's all ready 3 in the afternoon" Artemis was interrupted by the loud growl coming from her stomach "oh no that's all I need is my stomach to start acting like Wally's"

"Well Alfred thought you'd be hungry when you woke up so he's making lunch as we speak."

**Break Line**

The whole kitchen area was filled with the sweet aroma of homemade food. The counters were filled with ingredients going into a pot that looked like it held some sort of stew. Alfred was chopping vegetables and putting them in the stew at an impressive rate.

"Hmmm" Artemis mouth started to water the moment they came into the kitchen _"oh great another stupid habit I'm picking up from kid dork" _

Almost instantly the butler noticed their presence, its nearly impossible to sneak up on him, as he looked up he stopped and stared at Artemis' face for a second than looked at Dicks and back to Artemis he merely raised an eyebrow and continued working.

"If you two are hungry lunch is already finished and in the fridge"

"Than what are you making if that's not lunch?" Artemis asks

"Well its diner of course, I like to have it ready early because one never knows the exact time a certain Bat or Bird will be eating diner" Alfred said while still working "I presume I should add archer to that as well" he added with a small smile

Lunch was great. It was only grilled cheese but it was probably the best grilled cheese on the planet, and the punch was homemade and it tasted completely exotic but was still delicious.

"What is it?" Artemis says annoyed. Dick has been staring at her with this stupid grin ever since she's woken up.

"Nothing, can't a guy just be in a good mood"

"Ya, but for you, that means your up to something"

"Nope, but I just remembered that Bruce wanted to see you when you woke up he should be in his study"

**Break Line**

The door to the study was huge, well huge is the best word to describe it _"why does anyone need a door this big" _Artemis thought as she started to raised her hand to nock

"Come in"

"_How does he do that?" _she walked in kind of nervous, not really sure if she'll be talking to Bruce or Batman she hopes its Bruce.

"Sit down there's a few things I need to talk with you about" Artemis sat on a chair in front of his desk

"The first is your mother's funeral, everything is prepared and it will be in two day on Sunday is that ok with you"

"That sounds good" she really did not want to deal with a funeral and was glad that he took care of it

Bruce paused for a moment and then continued "I talked with Ollie and even though Dinha and him are expecting a baby he says your more than welcome to stay with them"

"I would rather stay in Gotham this is my home" Bruce considered this

"Very well, than all that's left is this" he held up some paper work "all I have to do is sign this and I become your legal guardian, you'll be officially apart of the family" he said with a smile

"I don't know what to say no one has ever done anything this big for me before and this _is _huge life changing in fact"

Bruce chuckled slightly at her statement "well you could always say thank you"

Artemis was taken back _"wow Bruce chuckled! The man who is the Batman can laugh like a normal person"_

"However I believe you should learn to never let your guard down around Dick" he continued before she could respond to his previous statement.

Artemis was confused and did not understand what he meant until he held up a pen and gestured to his face

"_He didn't" _Artemis got up and ran to the nearest bathroom which was down the hall. She nearly punched the mirror when she saw her reflection; her face was decorated with pink, blue, red and green marker. She had a big blue mustache, big green glasses, a pink unibrow, and a big red beard that went from her ears to her chin and even covered half of her cheeks.

"DICK!" she screamed as she saw him at the bathroom door with a camera "I'm going to kill you bring you back to life and kill you again!" she screamed as she chased after him

"You'd have to catch me first" he responded as he disappeared letting his creepy ninja laugh fill the mansion

**A/N: Is anyone else confused about the new season it all happened so fast and there is so much to digest, I really hope that Wally and Artemis are still in it because I did not see them and they were not mentioned. A Big thanks to** **SuperGLEEK97, and Super-Nerd01** **you guys rock thanks so much for reviewing every chapter it really makes my day :) **


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice**

It was a ridiculously beautiful day at Pine Rose funeral home. The sky was blue, the clouds were big and fluffy, and there was a warm breeze.

In the middle of the grave yard there was a small group no more than 12 people. They were all gathered around a casket being lowered into the ground, every one present wore black and stood beside a blonde girl trying to show her their support, everyone but a redhead that was far in the back purposely avoiding the blonde.

It almost made Artemis sad to know that everyone at the grave was a member of the league. Not one of her mother's friends came, not that she invited any, she could not think of one person who was not a criminal that her mother might have called a friend. In the distance she thought she saw a shadow that could have been Jade, Artemis knew her sister would never go to place where the justice league may be.

After the funeral they all traveled back to the cave to eat and talk. Artemis was quickly surrounded by Zatanna and Megan and pulled to a corner of the room.

"Artemis I'm so sorry about what happened, when we heard we all tried to go to Gotham but Batman grounded us at the cave. Literally they locked us in here and did not let us out for two days" said the Zatanna

"Wow. Why would Batman do that?" Artemis asked

"Something about us causing more trouble in Gotham, and that you needed your space" stated the Martian

"Well I'm actually glad you all listened" Artemis hurriedly continued after seeing their faces "don't get me wrong you guys are like my family, but I really needed that time to work threw a lot of emotions"

"I understand I needed to be alone when my dad became Dr. Fate, and it still hurts whenever I think about it" said the magician

"You were extremely close to your father… My mom wasn't there for most of my childhood. What hurts me the most is the feeling that I did not get to know her, that someone took that time away from me" Artemis was interrupted as the two girls quickly pulled her into a hug

Across the room the fastest boy alive stood by a table filled with food lost in his own thoughts, he never even looked at the table besides him

"I never thought I'd live to see the day that kid flash does not stuff his mouth when all of his favorite foods are right in front of him" the boy wonder stated causing Wally to jump in surprise

"Dude don't do that!" he yelled

"Do what?" Robin asked innocently

"That creepy ninja thing, you know I hate it" the redhead told him as he turned his body to look at Artemis now talking with the rest of their team

"Why don't you say something to her" Wally looked back at him

"What am I supposed to say to her?"

"How about I'm sorry for your lost, I'm here if you need me, I secretly have a big crush on you, anything like that will do" Robin said smirking

"What are you taking about there's no way I like her and even if I did this is so not the time to tell her that"

"It's so obvious you like her everyone is betting on when you two will get together, and Artemis hates being pitied, right now I bet she would really like to punch someone, so a change of topic might be a good thing"

"So you want me to volunteer and be her personal punching bag?"

"Ya that sounds about right"

Wally sighed "Ok… it's a bit too gloomy here anyway but I am defiantly not saying I like her"

"Then tell her how good she looks in this picture" Robin hands him the picture of Artemis with her face covered in marker

They make their way to the rest of the team, Wally can't hide the grin he has on his face and Robin is getting his camera ready to take pictures for future blackmail

**Break line**

Green Arrow and Black Canary walked into one the briefing rooms in the lower levels of the cave. Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, Red Tornado, Martian Manhunter, and Superman were already in the room.

"Do you know Artemis and Wally are fighting again and for some reason it's about Care Bears vs. My Little Pony" GA said as he walked in the room

"Wait, how did they even start talking about that? When I left the room they were fighting about some picture Robin took of Artemis and besides there's no argument My Little Pony is way better" Flash stated

When he noticed every one looking at him funny he started rubbing his head and mumbling "not that I watch it or anything"

"What was it that you wanted to share with us Batman?" the Martian asked reminding everyone why they were there

"I have found evidence pointing to the shadows conducting genetic experiments" he stated as he turned to the monitor and bring up several locations and profiles of scientist

"There nothing really new about that, we already know that they have done experiments with cobra venom and cloning" Wonder Woman pointed out

At the mention of cloning Superman shifted from one leg to the other, he has been trying to get along better with Connor but there still is a long way to go

"Youths ranging from ages 13 to 19 have been abducted simultaneously from major cities around the world, in total 129 have been taken" Batman continued as if he had not been interrupted "each one of these cities experienced the same thing Gotham did public mayhem followed by abductions" he brought up a map of the 14 cities effected

Batman continued explaining until everyone present has been brought up to date on everything he has discovered

"Should not the children be made aware of this?" asked the Red Tornado

"I think they have enough to deal with right now, it would be best if we could handle this without them becoming involved" Black Canary stated

The league all nodded with agreement

"Very well than let's get to work" Batman said as he turned to face the monitor again

**A/N: I know this is late but this week has been so hectic I have been going none stop for the last few days. This is not my favorite chapter but I hope you guys still like it. I am trying to put some Spitfire in the story, sorry to any Rob/Art fans but I like them to have a more brother/sister relationship if I've made it seem otherwise my apologies. Thanks so much to Ashely, ****I love you Roza****, ****SuperGLEEK97****, ****arbrick****, ****rogue42197****, ****Alex Skywalker****, and ****Super-Nerd01**** for reviewing. That was the most reviews I have ever gotten :) **


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own **

**So sorry for the late update life… well ya that's all I'm going to say about that. It a longer chapter than usual and I also and I put in a small fight scene to try and make it up to all of you.**

Artemis was emotionally drained after the funeral all she wanted to do when they got back to the manor was take a shower and go to bed. But she learned a long time ago nothing ever goes exactly how you wish it. Artemis had barely put her pajamas on after taking a shower when Alfred knocks on her door.

"I am sorry to disturb you at this late hour however master Bruce wishes to speak to you down in the cave"

"Does it have to be right now can't it wait till morning?" Artemis said hoping she will be able to lie in bed soon

"Well if you do not wish to speak with master Bruce I assume I could tell him you have denied his request" said Alfred smirking slightly

"No I'll go just give me a sec" Artemis new that if Bruce wanted to meet in the cave that it was Batman that wanted to talk to her, and it's not wise to ignore Batman.

It took her a few minutes to get to the cave. The first thing Artemis saw when she entered was Robin practically jumping for joy, for some reason he was dressed in full superhero getup like he was about to go on patrol. '_I thought they were not going on patrol tonight' _Artemis thought

Batman stood behind Robin also in costume he almost seemed to be in a good mood, his frown was smaller than usual.

"We're going on patrol what took you so long?" Dick asked still bouncing on his feet

"I didn't know we were going out to night" Artemis stated

"Artemis cannot go on patrol with us" Batman said quite coldly "she is Green Arrows protégé and if she patrolled with us it would raise to many questions and possibly put all of our identities at risk"

"But Batman you can't expect her to just sit at home every night while were out saving Gotham" Robin tried to argue in Artemis' defense

"We are not discussing this any further the matter is …."

"You can't keep me from helping people I'll do it even if I have to go behind your back" Artemis said as she cut him off but quickly became quite when the bat glare was directed at her

"As I was saying the matter has already been resolved" Batman gestured behind the two protégés

Artemis nearly jumped when she saw Alfred behind her _'how can a man his age move so quietly' _she thought

Artemis still didn't understand how this solved the matter at all; however the little bird next to her figured it out instantly when he noticed what was in the butler's hands. It was a costume that appeared to be the perfect size for Artemis. Alfred simply handed her the outfit and directed her to the changing area. Several minutes later she emerged dressed in a grey, blue, and purple costume with a small amount of yellow. Her hair was tied up in a tight French braid and on her head was a simple mask that covered her eyes and the area around it.

"It looks like a perfect fit" Robin said complementing her new costume "but are you ok with it? Your midriff is not showing, we don't want you freaking out during patrol worrying that no guys are checking out your figure"

Artemis tried to punch him but he easily dodged it. "Thanks and all but why are you giving me this?"

'_No wonder she couldn't figure out my identity even after I dropped so many hints if she can't even deduce this' _Robin snickered in his head

"Green Arrows protégé Artemis cannot go on patrol in Gotham but batgirl can" batman explained

"Me! Batgirl? But I'm an archer not an acrobat" She really appreciated this but being a bat meant you had a lot to live up to

"Your already a member of the family its only right to make you apart of the batfaimily as well" Robin told her "and besides you're a natural marksmen I'm sure your be flinging batarangs as good as me in no time at all"

"What about on team missions, and would GA still be my mentor?"

"Your alias as batgirl is only in Gotham outside you may go as an archer and will still be Green Arrows partner; you may even still patrol with him" Batman told her, then he turned to Robin " Robin you will be patrolling with batgirl in the midtown quadrant she's not used to the equipment so take it easy"

Robin turned to Artemis and smirked "hear that you have to follow my orders"

She just rolled her eyes and responded "Don't look now but your ego is showing"

"Don't get too comfortable starting tomorrow I'll be starting you on the same training schedule as Robin and there is much to catch up on especially your acrobatics" Batman stated interrupting his two kids staring contest

**BREAK LINE**

Dick was thoroughly enjoying watching Artemis trying to get a hold of grappling from one building to the other. He has already had to stop her from falling twice that night. They left the cave thirty minutes after the dark night because he had to explain where everything was on her utility belt which he was glad she got a hang of quite quickly. That's all Dick needed was her to jump off a building and try to grab the grapple and end up with smoke bombs, he knows it's not fun he's done it before.

Batman must be working extra hard that night because they have yet to run into anything more than the common pickpocket and it was already late into their patrol.

"Wow I've never seen Gotham this slow before" Artemis said as they landed on top of an apartment building

"Neither have I…" was all that Robin was able to respond before he was interrupted by sirens coming from a police car racing down the street below them

They both new without looking at the other what their plan of action was going to be; Robin leapt off the edge with Artemis close behind. The Police car stopped in front of an old condemned apartment complex. It was soon joined by three others and soon the entire street was blocked off full of officers including Commissioner Gordon.

"We have the building surrounded there no way out Eric release the girl and come quietly!" Gordon spoke through a mega phone

"No if I give up I'll never see my daughter again I'd rather die than let that happen! And if I catch anyone coming in here I'll kill us both!" Eric shouted back while firing a machine gun through a broken window from the fifth floor

"Eric please doesn't do this!" a woman screamed from next to the commissioner, she was obviously the girls' mother

"This doesn't look good" Artemis observed while looking down on the scene

"It's not. It's worse than it appears Eric Torrez is a convict who was declared clinically unstable and escaped a mental institution" Robin said as he was searching through his wrist computer "he specialized in explosives and bomb making"

"That explains why they have not even tried to send people in, the whole building could be wired" Artemis added

"That and the fact that he probably has his seven year old daughter at gun point" Robin spoke as he pulled up a picture of a little girl with tan skin, light brown hair, and golden brown eyes

Artemis looked up from the picture "so what's your plan"

Suddenly there was an explosion on the second floor causing a series of smaller explosions from the first, third and sixth floors; soon the entire building was going up in flames. The girls' mother was screaming from the streets below as she was being pulled back by Gordon.

"There's no time for a plan only action" and with that they both shot out lines towards the burning building and entered on the fourth floor through a broken window.

"The buildings coming down we need to find them and get out now" Robin yelled through the smoke infested room

They both ran towards the next level while putting on their breathing masks. Running through the building was like taking a bath in an oven the heat was quickly making them dizzy and light headed. It took forty five seconds to find the room Eric and his daughter should be in but it felt much longer to them.

The room was open and just beginning to be consumed by flames and in the middle of it all was the little girl. Artemis swiftly ran to her side and checked for a pulse "she's alive" she yelled

Artemis picked up the girl and was about to jump out the window when she dove out of the way of machine gun fire.

"Don't you dare touch my little girl I won't let anyone have her!" Eric yelled

Robin jumped in front of Eric and kicked his legs out from under him; however Eric got in a lucky shot and was able to knock off the boy wonders breather

"Get her out of here I'll take care of him" Robin yelled

"Fine but if you're not out by the time I'm though I'm coming back for you" and with that Artemis made her way to the window but Eric noticed this and grabbed his gun and started firing. Artemis and the little girl jump out of the building while being chased by bullets and was able to safely land in the street next to the girls' mother.

Robin was able to kick the gun out of Eric's hands just as he began to fire at Artemis. The man recovered quickly from this and lunged at Robin grabbing and knocking him into a wall. The room was starting to spin and Robin was wondering how this man was able to keep moving like that in this heat. Robin finally gained the upper hand and was able to steer Eric toward the window with some well-placed punches and kicks. Robins plan was to push the man out the window and jump after him but he never got the chance because the next thing he knew was the sound of an explosion and intense heat.

"Amy" the woman yelled as she ran towards Artemis and taking the girl from her

When the girls was being looked at by the paramedics Artemis turned and was about to go back into the building when a hand grabbed her shoulder "You can't go back in there" Gordon said as he tried without success to hold onto her

"No! Robins still in there" as she turned to reenter the building there was another explosion causing the unstable building to begin to crumble

Artemis heart dropped as she saw flames bursting out of the fifth floor until she saw two bodies being thrown out by the flames and falling towards the street.

'_These better be the right ones'_ she prayed as she deposited three small pellets from her belt and threw it at the ground below the two moments before they hit cement.

There was a flash of light and instantly a purple foam substance began to spread cushioning there fall. Robin and Eric were quickly surrounded and pulled out of the sticky goo; Eric was promptly put in hand cuffs and taken away. Robin was dazed from the fire and needed help standing for a few moments.

"Those were some pretty reckless stunts you pulled kids but well done" Gordon told them

"Reckless? It went exactly as I planned" Robin said while smirking causing Gordon to frown, he's never liked how batman was willing to put a child in danger and often expressed those feeling to him

"Let me guess you're the newest addition to Batman's team" Gordon asked Artemis

"Yep I'm Batgirl the most bamf girl you'll ever meet" Artemis said

"What is that supposed to mean" Gordon was clearly confused with the bamf statement

"I thought I told you two to keep it easy" Batman said as he walked out from the shadows

"What are you taking about this was easy" Robin replied

"Batman I would like a word with you" Batman sighed inwardly he knew the commissioner was about to try and lecture him about the danger a child could get into as a hero, _again._

"Return to base and get some rest" Batman instructed his kids. They nodded and headed home ready for a meal, a warm shower, and a good rest.

**A/N: I think I might have confused people in my last a/n the main pairing for the story is Robin and Artemis but not in a romantic sense but as a brother/sister kind of way, and spitfire will never be a major part of the story there will only be just tid bits here and there if even that. And with this week's episode wow I did not see that coming with Aqualad but I am glad that superboy and superman are getting along. Thanks so much to SuperGLEEK97, Super-Nerd01, Robin-Is-Awesomeical, Just reading (), ynony, and arbrick for reviewing the last chapter. **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own **

"_Where is she!" Laurence yelled as he threw a chair across the room. Artemis was hiding behind the kitchen counter hoping his fit of rage would not last long, but she knew this was going to happen the moment Jade told her she was leaving. _

"_Who in the hell does she think she is! After I raised her, trained her! Does that brat think I would just let her leave!" _

_Laurence walked over to where his youngest was hiding and hosted her up by her shirt, the 8 year old could do nothing to get out of his grasp "what did she tell you" he whispered, stating each word slowly and clearly trying to hold back his anger._

"_She didn't tell me anything only that she was getting out and that I should do the same" Artemis answered hoping he would not throw her across the room like he did the chair_

_Artemis herd him mumble under his breath something about money, waste of time, project, and failure _

"_I'm going out to find her, stay here" he puts Artemis gently back on the ground and kneels down next to her, she tries not to look at him but he places his hands on her shoulders signaling for her to look him in the eyes "Jade was weak by running away, you were always the stronger one and I know you'll make me proud one day" _

_Laurence grabbed his bag and left Artemis behind in a half destroyed apartment. Once she herd the door lock she went to the room that had just become hers alone and sat on the bed with her teddy bear hopping that the next six years fly by and her mother will be home soon._

BEEEEP BEEEEP BEEEEEP

Artemis was awoken from her dream by her annoying alarm clock. She and Robin had a late patrol yesterday and she wished for nothing more than to sleep for the next few hours but a little birdy had other plans.

"Artemis wake up you don't want to be late for your first day back to school do you?"

It's been two weeks since her mother's passing and the school has been letting her take the time off to mourn. Dick had also taken the time off to help her adjust to living at the manor, the school agreed to it because his grades are excellent. 

"Artemis" Dick called to her again. Her only reply was turning her back and placing the covers over her head.

"Do I need to go get Alfred again?"

Artemis quickly sat up "don't you dare!" she yelled as she looked at the clock.

A few days ago she refused to get up for breakfast and then lunch when the butler tried waking her. He refused to let her sleep the day away so he simply decided to force her to get up with a bucket of ice cold water in the face.

"Why in hell is my alarm set for 5:45 in the morning" she angrily asked looking over to the one she knows set it

"Because I know it takes you forever to get ready in the morning and I don't want to be late because of you" he answered as he dodged a pillow she threw at him

"Then hurry up and get out so I can get dressed" she told him as she was getting out of bed, Dick turned around and walked out of the room after shutting the door he yelled "hurry up or I won't leave any breakfast for you"

"I should really get a lock for that door" Artemis mumbled under her breath once he left

"I heard that and it won't help I can pick any lock you'd get" Dick yelled back and she knew he was smirking by the way he sounded

"Ahhh there's just no privacy with that kid" she screamed in frustration

**Break line**

An hour later Dick and Artemis waked out the door in their Gotham Academy uniforms on their way to school. Dick had his usually messy hair gelled back in a way that made him look like a wimpy little kid in his uniform and Artemis looked very uncomfortable constantly trying to pull down her skirt. They arrived at their school at 7:02 which gave them nearly 30 minutes before first period.

"What was the point of waking up so early if were hear 30 minutes before school even starts" Artemis said clearly unhappy about being rushed for no reason

"Well unlike you I don't really like running to first period with only seconds to spare" Dick teasingly responded

"That only happened a few times"

"More like every other day! Me and Babs placed odds on which days you'd actually be late"

"What!" she was about to yell at him when they heard her name being called from across the quad

"Artemis!" Barbra yelled while running in their direction "Artemis I've been trying to call you for the last two week" Barbra practically jumped on the poor girl giving her the biggest hug she could muster "I'm so sorry my dad told me what happened and I've been trying my best to get a hold of you but you disappeared! I was so worried where you've been? Have you been eating? Are you getting enough rest? What abou…"

Barbra was talking nearly as fast as kid flash the only thing she could do was pull back and put her hand over Babs mouth just to slow her down "Barbra I'm ok. I've been staying with Dick here" Artemis pointed her thumb towards the boy in question "and Bruce Wayne, they've agreed to take me in"

Barbra stared at Dick for a few moments and then yelled "why didn't you tell me any of this! I thought we were best friends" she almost looked hurt "but you would think something as big as Gotham's white knight adopting another kid would make big headlines?"

"Bruce has been trying to keep everything on the dl, we don't want a lot of attention with everything that's happened, sorry Babs" Dick explained

Barbra then looked as if she forgot about the mini betrayal she felt as she turned back to Artemis "so how is it having him as a little brother? I can pretty much imagine all the pranks he'll try and pull"

Little brother, Artemis had not thought about that. This whole time she'd been thinking about what she's lost not about what she's gained. Family, she was shocked at the realization. She doesn't know if she would ever come out and say Dick was her brother but he was sure a brother figure. Bruce he's like the dad she's never had or at least the training he gives her is not life and death and Bruce does talk to her about her day and seems to care, which is more than her own _Father _had even pretended to do and Alfred would be like her grandfather, she never had the chance to meet her own grandparents she doesn't even know their names.

"Try! He has already pulled a few, but I'm getting him back" she whispered the last part in Babs ear

"Well I'm glad to hear that you're adjusting all right, just remember that I'm always there for you no matter what the situation, day or night don't hesitate to call" Babs said as she gave Artemis another hug

"Now on to the good stuff" she looked around to see if anyone else was in earshot "my dad has told me that there's a new member of the Batfamily" she paused before continuing "a batgirl, can you believe that Batman was the first hero to have a sidekick and now he's the first to have two"

Artemis and Dick gave each other quick looks "really Babs are you sure if that was true wouldn't it be all over the news" Dick asked skeptically

"I know it's the truth I had to hear my dad complain for the last week about how dangerous it is to have kids in the line of fire and that one of his biggest fears is going to a crime scene and finding one of Batman's sidekicks dead" Barbra said coming to her dads defense "my dad would not make that up"

"Get to class!" a teacher was yelling at all the students who were just standing around

"Wow I didn't even hear the first bell ring" Dick said as he looked at his watch "well I'll see you two at lunch" he waved good bye as he headed to class

Both Artemis and Barbra waved back as they turned to walk to their first period Drama class they shared

**Break line**

Three levels below a seemingly abandoned warehouse near Gotham's docks stood an observation room over a gymnasium the size of four football stadiums put together. Several people stood watching the youths down below navigate their way through labyrinths of dangerous traps and environments, dodging or at least trying to avoid any projectiles targeting them. Everyone in the observation room was watching the subjects below intently marking down information that came up during the tests.

Sportsmaster entered the room, unnoticed by the researchers, and walked straight up to the window to stand by Professor Hedrick, the man in charge of the experimentation being done there.

"How's the progress" Sportsmaster asked in his gruff voice

Hedrick looked down at his clipboard and then stated "worldwide more than half of the subjects have died in the conditioning faze, however we will begin genetic manipulation sometime next week"

Sportsmaster looked out the window in time to see a young boy about 12 nearly fall into a pit trap only to be blasted back by a stun grenade thrown by a robotic opponent. Hedrick who also observed this spoke into a microphone "subject 7 is down send him up to section 5 for reconditioning"

"I am aware we have yet to acquire all the test subjects" Hedrick said as he leaned back from the microphone

"There are special exceptions that do not required this conditioning faze, but rest assured they are being watched carefully" Sportsmaster replied

**A/N: wow did anyone else jump for joy when they saw Artemis, Wally, Roy and Jade even if it was only for a short time :) I was so afraid that they might have killed Artemis off, but now I just hope they all might play a bigger role for the rest of the series. Thanks so much to SuperGLEEK97, Keepmovingforward2 (), rogue42197, liettebird, SpritelyGryffindor, Pink Guns and Sunfl0wer S33ds, Ashley (), and Robin-Is-Awesomeical for reviewing my last chapter.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own nothing of young justice**

Lunch started over fifteen minutes ago and Artemis and Barbra were still waiting for Dick to arrive. They were sitting in their usual spot on the roof of the gym; Dick found the spot when he first came to Gotham Academy. He and Barbra loved to explore which led them to stumble on the biology professors' secret project, where they tried and succeeded on planting a beautiful garden with the whole roof covered in soft grass, an array of flowers planted across the lawn and a single tree in the middle for shade. This project was made for the sole purpose of giving the professor's a place to relax, however very few even use it because most of them would rather be in their class room reading and researching to get ahead in their respective fields in order to be promoted. Dick was allowed to use this secret area because he was the favorite student of the biology professor that had the keys.

When Artemis found out about the spot she was amazed how it was nearly unnoticeable from the ground, if one looked very closely they would be able to see the top of what looked like a tree, she could not begin to understand how the roots of the tree did not compromise the structure of the gym but to be honest she never gave it too much thought.

"What in the heck is taking Grayson so long" Artemis complained loudly for the third time

Barbra leaned back and gave her a look "please tell me you're not going to become an over protective big sister all of a sudden"

"Trust me I know he can take care of himself, but I need help with my Algebra 2 homework and we have the same class"

"It's nice to know that I'm appreciated, but shouldn't I be considered the older brother because I lived with Bruce the longest" Dick spoke from behind them

"You a big brother!" Artemis scoffed "Ya right in your dreams maybe…" she trailed off as she turned around and saw him

To one that has not known Dick for long, or had not been given a crash course in sleuthing by the best detective there is, might not have noticed anything wrong but for Artemis and Barbra they could tell instantly.

Dicks school jacket was nowhere to be seen, his shirt was not tucked in all the way, his hair was not perfectly gelled back and he smelled of gravy and peaches which were two items served at the school cafeteria today.

"Who was picking on you!" Artemis yelled, she was clearly angry that someone would even dare to touch one of her friends

"_Wow I guess even she can learn to pick up some detective skills if trained by an expert, considering she couldn't find clues that were right in front of her before" _Dick lightheartedly thought

"It was Joss and Mick again wasn't it?" Barbra asked but already knew the answer

"Joss and Mick? Those neanderthals trying to pass themselves off as seniors, if their parents weren't rich there's no way they could even dream about graduation" Artemis stated becoming angrier and angrier by the second

"Ya those two idiots thought it would be funny to put down Bruce Wayne and his tendency to 'pick up strays from the street'" he said using air quotes "so I thought it would be funny to place my food tray under their feet and watch them fall and be laughed at by the whole cafeteria but unfortunately they did not agree with my humor"

"Those jerks are going to pay"

"No Artemis, people like them get what's coming to them eventually and it wouldn't be good for Bruce if you went and beat them up"

"Dick I've seen you do gymnastics and I know you practice self-defense you could have easily taken those two. Why don't you ever fight back?" asked Barbra

"Babs I think your giving me to much credit, it's one thing to know what to do but a whole different thing to actually use it"

Then it clicked, Robin could take down those two in his sleep but Dick can't. He has to play the role of the billionaire's son that should be afraid of fights because of his small size.

"It's more than that isn't it, they said something that hurt you" Artemis observed, he was acting to mellow even for something like this, that smile should be on his face, but instead his eyes are dull almost red

Dick looks down and then back at his friends "they dragged me to the back of the cafeteria as to not draw attention and while they were dressing me in food they were taunting me about the circus I grew up in, calling it a breeding ground for flees and complaining how one had to attach itself to Bruce and how they wish every flee would just die" Artemis clenched her fists and Barbra was fit to be tied "but right now I'm more upset about myself, I was angry I did what I knew was right and let them go but I really wanted to hurt them. BAD"

Barbra gave him a quick hug

"I'm sure Bruce would be proud at your ability to hold back against losers like them. There not worth the time of day" Artemis reassured him while placing her hand on his shoulder

Dick took a deep breath "your right" he paused than continued "well we better get started on your homework if you want to finish it in the ten minutes left in lunch"

"Oh, I completely forgot about that" Artemis said while handing him her work _"but I am so not letting those basters get away with this"_ she thought to herself

**Break line**

Several days later, deep within the batcave Artemis and Robin were doing their daily exercises which required rigorous acrobatic training, especially for Artemis, a variety of battle simulations, and most painful of all, sparing with Batman. At least when Artemis would spar against Black Canary she would hold back a little but with Batman it was another story his brand of training involved learning through failure.

"Artemis you need to let your actions be smooth. One move needs to blend in with the other" Batman told her after he threw her towards the mat for the fifth time that hour

"That easy for you to say but I was raised to throw as much power in an attack as I could. It was always about one hit kills not disarming a person" she said frustrated

"That's when you were being trained to be a criminal not a hero" Batman said giving her a look that told her to stop making excuses "get ready were going on patrol soon, it'll only be you and me tonight"

"Where's Robin going to be?"

"I actually have a life unlike some people and made plans to hang out with Wally" Dick said from the top of the stairs already in his civvies

She just rolled her eyes, Zantana and her hang out all the time and have ran into trouble more times than they could count but there's no reason to tell the boy wonder that

**Break line**

Patrolling with Batman was awkward to say the least, she was used to hearing the lame jokes and stupid conversations Green Arrow would have with her or Robin laughing and talking about how he could hack any government computer he wanted, he was such a showoff. With Batman it was just silence and work, every now and then he would tell her she needed to work on her moves other than that nothing, it was starting to tick her off Artemis was not used to silence she hated it more than Wally eating with his mouth open.

Suddenly the batwave went off warning them about Killer Croc rampaging though down town "lets go" was all batman said

They only traveled a few blocks before they herd an alarm go off and screams for help "I got this you go stop Croc" Artemis said as she headed towards the scene.

She landed on the roof of a local bakery in the seedy part of Gotham; she quickly surveyed the area and the people inside. It was deep in the night but nothing really closes in this big city so it did not surprise her to see several customers and the owner crouching against a wall as the store was being robed, however she was very surprised to see Joss and Mick among those crouching.

"You two are making a big mistake don't you know who really owns this joint" the baker yelled at the robbers

"Who cares if you or the mayor of Gotham owns it this money now belongs to us" the robber holding the gun said

Artemis had enough of listening to that pointless conversation she was ready to take action but more importantly find out why two rich kids are in a bakery at this time of night. The two thugs frantically tried to stuff as much money in their bag as possible in the small amount of time they had before the cops would show up, they were so busy they did not even notice Artemis sneak up behind them. With a quick jab to the back of Robber #1's neck he was out cold then a back flip to the front of robber #2 and a quick kick and he was also down.

"Wow this is almost a waste of time" she said to herself

The customers took no time at all in high tailing it out of their including the two boys that picked on Dick once the robbers were out cold.

"Wait! What about the package?" the idiotic baker yelled before realizing batgirl was right in front of him and then fleeing to the back of the store

Artemis found the boys running through an ally after she interrogated the backer about the _package._ It took her no time at all to figure out that the store was just a front for a criminal organization but the baker ran and ended up nocking himself out before she could learn more.

With two well placed batarangs the neanderthals were hanging by their shirts before they even knew what happened

"So what about this package I've heard so much about"

"Why would we ever tell a girl like you" said Joss

"_Wow these two are stupider than I first thought" _

"How about you tell me and I leave those ugly faces of yours alone" Artemis threatened as she pulled out a batarang and ran it down Mick's face and neck

"We don't know anything were just doing a delivery for our parents" Mick said peeing his pants

"Shut up Mick!" Joss yelled "If you tell her that she might figure out our parents work with the shadows"

Artemis grabbed his shirt "what did you say!"

"I didn't say nothing" Joss yelled right before he spit on her face

She was extremely angry at that and broke his nose which caused him to black out before she even realized she punched him "DAM" she looked over to Mick and was about to continue the interrogation but soon discovered he already passed out

She punched the bricks next to his head to make sure she did not end up seriously hurting them like she really wished she could at the moment. After she took a deep breath she searched them and found a flash drive in Joss's pocket

"This is what took you so long?" Batman said from behind

"What… um I was just… how long were standing there" He nearly scared her half to death

"Long enough to see you punch him" he used his thumb to indicate Joss "but also long enough to know you proved the Baskov's are in bed with the shadows" he reached his hand out asking for the flash drive "you did good"

Artemis couldn't help but smile at that. Batman turned to leave but stopped when he noticed Artemis was not following "just one last thing" she said as she pulled out a marker that wouldn't wash off for two days.

She doesn't know why Robin was so insistent that she keep it on her but now she's glad he was. She quickly wrote _LOSER _and _GEEK _on their foreheads in big red ink before heading back towards Batman. He knew about the incident earlier that week and slightly smiled at what she was doing

"I am proud that you care for Robin so much but you're still getting five hours of extra training next week for that" he said still slightly smiling

"That's not fair I could tell you were mad at them too" Artemis tried to defend herself

"We can go for six hours"

"It was still worth it" she mumbled under her breath

**Break line**

Deep within the shadows of an abandoned warehouse stood a dangerous group of individuals "it has come to our attention that the package was not delivered but instead obtained by the bats" said a man who spoke with authority

"Sir the boys they sent ran off with it and batgirl took it from them, there was nothing I could do" the baker from earlier pleaded knowing that this was not going to end well

"It doesn't matter how it happened only that it did, if the bats figure out what's truly valuable on that drive we'll have to accelerate our plans allowing more room for errors" said the same authoritative voice

"What do you want us to do?" Sporstmaster asked as he stepped from the shadows

"For now dispose of this mess" the voice said meaning the baker "as well as the Baskov's they have no further use, as for the flash drive there should be copy on the way"

**A/N: Is this story moving to slow or to fast? I just hope everything is making sense. I liked the new episode I think I am starting to follow where it's going but I really hope Wally and Artemis come out of retirement. My thanks goes out to SuperGLEEK97, Pink Guns and Sunfl0wer S33ds, SpritelyGryffindor, Ashley (), Believe-daydream-Fly529, arbrick for taking the time and reviewing **


	10. Chapter 10

**I know this is a week late but with my bros wedding, a graduation and another today and finals next week and the two presentations and another final project I surprised I even had time for this. It feels like my school is the only one not out for summer yet, so sorry for the wait hope no one's too mad :) **

**Disclaimer: nothing but the plot is mine **

It was bound to happen sooner or later but that didn't make it any easier to deal with. All of Gotham's social elites already knew about the newest addition to the Wayne household, it's hard to keep secrets like that when you attend school with all their children, but the general public had just found out that morning. It was pure chaos news reporters, journalist, and camera crews surrounded the estate in hopes of getting the first big scoop of this story or even better an interview or quote. Bruce knew in order for everything to begin to calm down he needed to give the people what they wanted and that meant answers, so he scheduled a press conference in front of Wayne corp. at seven that afternoon.

Artemis rested her head on her arms as she sat on the couch watching the news that was all about her "do I really need to go to the press conference"

"You do realize that it's because of you there even needs to be one" Dick said as he jumped on to the recliner hanging his feet off the arm rest

"They shouldn't even care what we do, don't they have lives of their own" Artemis said obviously frustrated with how things are going

"Gotham's playboy billionaire has adopted not one but now two kids practically off the streets; no matter where you are that's news"

"News that we were expecting and can be handled, you were a Wayne Foundation scholarship recipient so it's not like there was no connection with our civilian identities, however I can't stress it more that even though Batman and Robin are well known it's imperative that Batgirl stays ambiguous" Bruce stated as he walked into the room and muted the television

When Artemis was first given the Bat themed costume it came with a long speech about staying out of the lime light, that batgirl should only be a rumor between the criminals and the police. She was told that if she wanted to be on camera it should be done as Green Arrow's protégé in Star City. As far as the team would be concerned, if or when they found out, batgirl does not exist and Bruce and Dick are just civilians who took her in. Of course certain key members of the Justice League knew the truth, but not many.

"I know, you've said it like 20 times already" Artemis replied trying not to sound frustrated but failing

Bruce looked towards her giving her a look that said _'and I'll tell you twenty more times if necessary'_ then looked at the clock "were leaving in ten" and walked out of the room

Even though the conference was in the evening it felt like it was 90 degrees under all of those camera's and spot lights, Artemis stood next to Dick several feet behind Bruce. She absolutely hated every moment of it hated how they asked personal questions, hated how they saw her as a charity case, hated how some gave sympathetic looks when they learned her wheelchair mother was killed in front of her by a drive-by. The conference was only 30 minutes but felt far too long by her standards. The only thing that helped was the thought of what she'd be doing in only a few hours.

* * *

><p>It was a little after seven and the team minus Artemis and Robin were just hanging around the cave. Me'gan and Zatanna were baking cookies, Kaldur was reading, Connor petted Wolf on the couch while Wally flipped through the channels. Everything was calm until Wally suddenly jumped up nocking his bag of popcorn onto the floor and pointing at the screen with his mouth hanging open as he tried to speak "wha… wah… arte… why"<p>

The team ran over to the speedster to see what caused him to break down like that and they soon found out that reason. The tv was on Gotham's local news and currently they were broadcasting a news conference sponsored by Wayne Corp. however that's not what bothered them, but the fact that they were talking about Artemis being adopted by Bruce Wayne did.

"Why is Artemis on the tv being adopted? Shouldn't she already be with GA" Connor said confused

With all the commotion no one heard the commuter announce the arrival of the resident boy wonder or even noticed he had walked in the room

"I too thought she was staying with Green Arrow, however, that does not seem to be the case" Aqua lad added

"Well did anyone actually ever ask her where she was staying?" Zatanna asked

The young hero's looked at one another and then at the ground "I guess we all just assumed she'd be with her mentor because she was not staying at the cave" Me'gan said lifting her head

"How does she even know Bruce Wayne in the first place?" Wally asked looking almost upset that he was unaware of this

"Artemis had lived her whole life in Gotham and she's a Wayne Foundation scholar ship recipient so there's your connection and it's not even the first time Mr. Wayne has adopted a kid after the tragic loss of family" and for the first time that day the team finally noticed Robin in the room

"How long have you been there? Wait no, if you knew all this why didn't you tell us" Wally asked still a little flustered about finding out that the girl he had a crush on now lived with his best friend

"Well I still have my secrets so what right would I have about sharing others"

Just as Wally was about to speak the commuter announced the arrival of the teams archer; Artemis did not get far until she felt a gush of wind and came face to face to a very upset looking Wally "uhh can I help you" Artemis asked confused at the greeting she received

"Maybe you could start by sharing why you didn't tell us you were adopted by a billionaire"

"So I'm guessing you watched the press conference"

"Yep, I guess that's the only way I can find out what's going on with my friends"

"What's your problem! I don't need to tell you about every detail of my life you know" What Artemis isn't aware of is that Wally knows Robin's identity and that he's hurt his best friend would keep such a thing from him

"Come on Wally give her a break a lot has happened in the last few weeks it's only natural to try and get used to a situation before trying to talk about it" Robin tried to reason as he and the rest of the team walked into the room followed be a pregnant Canary

"All right team I hope you didn't think I would forget that we're testing you on those new moves just because I'm in my second trimester" BC said as she stopped beside Artemis and Wally ushering them into the training room

* * *

><p>It was now ten and most of the caves inhabitants were in their own rooms getting ready for the mission Batman was to give them the next night except for Artemis who was heading to the zeta tubes to meet Zatanna for their usual girls night out.<p>

"Where are you going" Robin asked as he was walking down the hall

"Well unlike some people I have a life and that means hanging out with friends" Artemis replied remembering what robin had said to her a few days earlier

"At this time of night? Who are you going with and where will you be"

"And why should I tell you any of that?" Artemis questioned back sarcastically knowing if he found out he would want to follow them

"Because I'm your big brother" Artemis couldn't help but to laugh at that "I was adopted first and fought crime first so that gives me the duty to look after you" Robin added

"I don't need to be looked after" still smirking at the thought of Robin being a big brother "and besides in order to be a big brother you have to be older and probably taller and you are neither so good night" and with that Artemis walked towards the zeta tubes

"If she thinks that's going to stop me she is sorely mistaken"

* * *

><p>Two pairs of eyes watched from a top a building at how quickly and easily two female teens took out a whole drug ring just for fun. It had been a little over two hours since Robin and Kid Flash started following them and during that time had seen them get in and out of more trouble than most people should be able to find.<p>

"What is it with those two and finding something to fight" KF spoke aloud to no one in particular

"What worries me more is the fact that we've been following them this whole time and they have yet to notice" Robin said as he watched them ride down another alleyway and quickly followed them

"Why are we following them again?" KF asked Robin

"As I recall you were the one who was practically crying over the fact you were kept out of the loop and besides were just here to make sure those two don't get in over their heads" Robin answered back

"Ya try and make this about me, but I know you have a huge crush on Zee, and I know your probably more concerned about Artemis telling her an embarrassing story about you that she might of heard from Alfred" Robins cheeks flush a little at that "yep got it right huh"

Robin looked back to the alley the two girls used to be in "think whatever you want but they've been in that building for too long come on were going in"

The building was not what either of them expected it was loud and bustling with activity, people in costumes and props walked to and fro, stage hands were gathering people, lining them up, and communicating through head phones. They were in the back stage of some sort of theater. The place smelled like an attic that hasn't been opened in years and by the sound of it there seemed to be a big crowd on the other side of the curtain.

"Why in the world are Artemis and Zatanna coming here" Wally asked as he hid next to Robin in the shadows behind some crates

"Where is my Robin and Kid Flash they are on next" a man who seemed to be in charge said as he walked close to the hiding hero's

"Rob what is that guy taking about?" KF ask worriedly

Robin looks around and found a program for a play on the floor, he quickly scanned it and replied "it looks like their doing a play about the justice league and there sidekicks but it looks like a comedy were there making fun of us"

"Tel eht thgil enihs no meht"

Suddenly there hiding spot was illuminated by a bright light allowing the man to find _his _Robin and Kid Flash. Almost as if they were unable to disobey the man's commands they were led to center stage as the curtain was rising.

"ecand" music began to play and their bodies began to dance along as if things could not get any worse they were able to see in the rafter above the audience two girls laughing their butts off holding a camera and high fiving.

"I can't believe you got the producer to allow this and help us with this plan of our" Artemis said while laughing and filming the two hero's performance

"Well he was a really good friend of my dad's" Zatanna looks down for a second before continuing "and he really loved the idea of those two dancing like idiots, I guess it fits perfectly in his play"

"I hope Robin likes this payback for all those pranks he pulled on us" said Artemis

"and maybe they'll learn that following people is rude and creepy" Zatanna added

They both continued to laugh until the four minute song ended; they were then met outside by two really angry teen hero's

* * *

><p>Early the next morning as the team still slept in their beds a bat and bird were up discussing the teams' latest mission. Batman sat at the caves monitor typing in data and figures that the team would need to be briefed on before carrying out the mission. Black Canary stood behind him watching as he typed away.<p>

"I thought we were going to try and solve this problem without the kids" BC asked batman without really expecting him to answer

"It's a simple enough mission, plus Artemis was the one to find the flash drive and she knows it has something to do with the shadows if we do not give the team a mission on this they'll go anyways and probably make it more dangerous than it needs to be" Batman reasoned with her

"I just don't like it" Canary said after sighing

**A/N: So tired need sleep :) omg did anyone else jump and cheer when Artemis ended up being alive :) I have to say that was one of the hardest episodes for me to watch but after the end it's definitely my favorite the writers are pure geniuses. My thanks goes out to XxSlayerChickxX, SpritelyGryffindor, Yuka Muntou, SuperGLEEK97, and Pink Guns and Sunfl0wer S33ds for reviewing the last chapter :) again sorry for the late update**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Young Justice or any of its characters do not belong to me**

"_Daddy I don't want to go today" a young blonde girl around the age of nine said as she was being pulled towards a building that had a sign labeling it The Light of Tomorrow's Youth Program. She wore old shoes with worn jeans and a blue t-shirt too big for her small body. _

"_I don't care if you want to go or not, you're going" said the man she called Daddy without turning around_

_They both walked in through a side door heading straight to the back rooms. No workers bothered to ask them anything for everyone there knew who they were and what the true purpose of this youth center was for. They came to an end when they entered a room with a dozen or so children ranging in age from 6 to 13. This was the usual routine; the young blonde would be left alone in the room with the children but not for long because soon weird people in lab coats would soon come in. _

_The young girl's father returned to the room followed by several doctors. These doctors would first have the children change into white sweat pants and t-shirts. Then the children would be given some food to eat that always tasted funny followed by foul smelling liquid. After, they would have to perform simple exercises like running, jumping, and stretching all while hooked up to strange looking machines. Sometimes some of the kids would get sick and be taken into another room but this never happened to the blonde girl._

"_Everything is progressing as planned" the young girl heard a doctor tell her father_

"_Then after today we begin the incubation stage?" her father asked_

"_Yes. I'm aware you've been told this stage will take six years to complete"_

"_I've heard as much"_

"_However to begin the next phase the subjects will go through a process that will cause selective amnesia, we have decided to make them forget about this program and what we've done to them to ensure they do not act rashly until phase three begins" the doctor said to the girl's father who in return only nodded_

_By now the blond girl was extremely confused. She had no idea what these phases they kept talking about were, all she knew was her father and those doctors wanted something from them. The young girl was so caught up with their conversation that she hardly noticed herself becoming tired until her legs gave out and she landed on the floor. The next thing she knew someone was picking her up and laying her on a gurney, she was able to see all of the others were also being placed on gurneys. The last thing the young blonde saw was her father looking at her with an unreadable face as she fell unconscious._

The first thing Artemis noticed was a bright light being shinnied in her face then the cold air as her blankets were being ripped off of her. She popped up and was able to grab the covers before they were completely taken.

"What the hell are you doing" she angrily yells at the boy wonder as she's rapping herself back in the warm blanket

"Making sure you're not dead, it's already past noon, if you can't wake up early then maybe you shouldn't stay out so late next time" Robin laughs as he walks out the door

Artemis reluctantly got up and changed out of her pajamas before heading to the kitchen to grab a bit to eat. On her way she ran into Me'gan and Connor walking hand in hand "good morning Artemis I made lunch so there should still be some left if you hurry" Me'gan told her as they walked past each other then quickly returned to explaining to Connor the different reasons one would make a bunt cake and not just a regular one. Artemis really wished they would get over the honey moon phase of their relationship already.

She entered the kitchen just as Wally was about to devourer the leftovers from the lunch Me'gan had made "slow down there Wally we don't need a repeat of last week's chocking incident" Artemis said remembering when Wally nearly choked to death after a certain bird came running in yelling that Hollywood wanted to make a movie about Kid Flash and his adventures staring the real Kid Flash. He was so excited he forgot he just shoved a whole cake into his mouth and also accidently ate the plastic decorations on top.

"It's not my fault. Robin's the one who ran in here getting my hopes up" Wally replied trying to defend himself

"If you didn't eat like a wild pig you never would have choked on plastic decorations"

"Hey you know my body's metabolism makes me need to eat a lot, and I know how much you like my body" Wally said wiggling his eyebrows "you probably stayed up all night watching that video of me dancing"

"Yeah right, in your dreams kid pervert" Artemis said waving her hand in the air while smirking. She did watch the video a few times with Zatanna last night. The raven haired girl was very open with her thoughts on how good Robin looked in his costume dancing while Artemis only watched it to laugh at them, or so she kept telling herself that.

"So how's life in Gotham" Wally asked as Artemis was fixing herself a plate to eat from Me'gan leftovers "I mean living with a billionaire and all"

"It's good. There all really nice people although Dick Grayson can be a pain in the butt" Artemis said as she sat at the counter eating "however, Alfred, their butler makes the best food you'll ever try"

"I know" Wally mumbled remembering all the times he ate over

"What'd you say" Artemis asked

"I said speaking of food I think you owe me a meal" Wally added quickly not sure if the blonde knew Robins or Batman's identity, the girl could be truly dense sometimes

"Why in the world would I owe you anything" she asked in a sarcastic tone while finishing her food

"Because of that little show you made me do last night, besides it not like you don't have the money to feed me"

"That show was your punishment for being a creeper and following me and Zee around and it's not like any of that moneys mine I'm still as broke as I was before" Artemis said as she placed her dish in the sink and walked away, she really wasn't in the mood for a stupid argument.

* * *

><p>Deep within a hidden laboratory teams of scientist were awaiting to hear from their boss. As they all settled down and sat in their respective chairs the room became dark and the screen on the monitor lit up revealing the face of Ra's a Ghul.<p>

"How goes the progress" asked Ra's through the monitor

"Despite minor setbacks we are nearly ready to begin the next stage; we are only waiting for some components to come together" Professor Hedrick answered

"Very well, do what you have to do, but I want every subject ready to move to the next stage the moments it is ready" and with that the screen went dark and lights came back on

Hedrick looked to his subordinates "Send word to ready the test subjects and inform the retrieval team to pick up any that is not currently in our hands"

* * *

><p>Several hours later the whole team is assembled in the debriefing room listening to the information that batman is giving them.<p>

"Earlier this week we found evidence that the shadows are expecting a major shipment of propylene glycol and oleoresin capsicum chemicals which can be used to make anything from common pepper spray to lethal nerve gas"

Batman typed on the holographic keyboard and several pictures of the shipment, the boat that's carrying it, as well as the docks the ship will land appeared "The shipment is scheduled to land at 1:35 am local time" he then zoomed in on the docks "expect the shipment to be well guarded"

"What is it you want us to do exactly?" asked Zatanna

Batman pulled out several vials containing a orange liquid and handed them to Kaldur "These vials are filled with a compound that when comes in contact with propylene glycol and oleoresin capsicum renders it inert, you must not let these chemicals fall into the shadows hands"

"We shall not fail you" Kaldur responds as he hands the vials to Robin

The team gathered in the bioship Miss M in the pilot's seat with Robin and Kaldur in the front, Connor and Kid Flash on the left, and Zatanna and Artemis on the right. The flight took a half hour getting them to their destination with an hour to spare before the shipment is due to arrive.

The dock was old looking almost failing apart with lack of maintenance, it smelled of rusty metal and rotting fish. "This place looks abandoned" Kid Flash observed

"That's because it is, this dock went bankrupt four years ago, it's scheduled for demolition in three months" Robin replied as he came up behind him

"Be on guard, just because the shipment has yet to arrive does not mean there are no enemies here" Kaldur spoke getting the whole teams attention "Miss Martian link us up"

"_Everyone on line?"_

There was a chorus of yes' and one 'you know it green cheeks'.

"_Robin you and Wally take the center dock, Superboy take the left side, Zatanna and Artemis take the right, Me'gan take the skies and I'll take the water front. Be on the lookout for anything suspicious, as well as take out any guards you may come upon" _

With that the team split up.

Kaldur made his way to the water's edge and found three guards "_I have a visual on three hostiles"_

"_I got one guard" _said Superboy

"_Me and Kid Flash found there home base with seven" Said Robin_

"_There are two over here"_ said Zatanna

"_I've found none" _said Me'gan

The ship was just arriving and began to dock, their looked to be twenty men on board

"_Me'gan head to Robin an Kid Flash's location and lend a hand on my mark we will all move at the same time before the ship finishes docking, regroup at the ship after taking down the targets" _Kaldur instructed and waited a few moments "_now!"_

Kaldur pulled his water bearers from his back and summoned water from the nearby sea to form two large hammers which he brought down on the unsuspecting men. He easily took out two but the third was only stunned, Kaldur jumped to the side just as shots were being fired at him. He quickly formed a whip out of the water rapping around one of the man's ankles taking his feet out from under him.

Superboy quickly jumped out from behind the guard and punched him in the gut sending him flying into an old storage container. The man fell to the ground unconscious "maybe I used to much strength?" he questioned as he headed towards the ship that was almost done docking.

The guard's home base was a simple shed which Robin quickly threw a smoke bomb in causing the men inside to come running out blindly. The first two were levitated off the ground and thrown into each other by Me'gan, the next two were taken out by Kid Flash. He ran up to them and grabbed their guns using them as clubs to knock the two thugs out. The last three heard the yelling and came out shooting causing Kid Flash and Me'gan to hide behind a rusty storage container that was already half destroyed. Robin snuck behind the guards and threw a bola at the man closest to the container, the rope and balls wrapped around him causing him to hit the floor with a satisfying "hump". While the two other guards were startled Robin ran and drop kicked the second guard, the third guard started firing his gun just as his partner hit the floor. With as much grace expected of the boy wonder he jumped and flipped in the air to be directly behind the thug. The moment he landed he pulled back his arm and hit the back of the guards next causing him to black out instantly.

Just before Kaldur signaled to attack Artemis saw a shadow move in the corner of her eye "Zee I saw something behind those creates over there" indicating with her head

"Ok I can take these two clowns go check it out" Artemis nodded as she slipped into the shadows

"_Now" _

"Snug nrut otni sepor" the archer heard Kadur's signal followed by Zatanna's spell, she knew the magician could handle herself

As Artemis came to the spot where she saw the shadow she pulled out her bow and notched an arrow, sensing someone behind her she quickly spun around but nothing was there. She was about to take a step forward but before she could someone covered her mouth from behind and pulled her deeper in the shadows causing her to drop her bow in the process.

**A/N: Yes finally schools out and I can enjoy my summer :) I heard Young Justice is going on another hiatus I really hope it's not for three months again. My thanks goes out to XxSlayerChickxX, Yuka Muntou, (), SuperGLEEK97, Pink Guns and Sunfl0wer S33ds, and Believe-daydream-Fly529** **for taking the time and reviewing :) and also thanks to everyone else that silently read this**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: young justice does not belong to me**

"_**Conversation in italics is mental link or thoughts"**_

Superboy was the first to arrive at the now docked ship soon followed by Kaldur, Robin, Kid Flash, and Me'gan with Zatanna arriving last. All the commotion on the docks had alerted the guards aboard the ship causing them to open fire on the team the moment they all arrived.

The ship was an old ocean liner that appeared to be on its last leg, and on its side read Misère in French. Aboard the ship there were more than four times the amount of guards then there was on the docks, and they all looked prepared for trouble.

"Where's Artemis" kid flash hurriedly asked Zatanna as he swerved to avoid the machine gun fire

"She noticed something on the docks and went to investigate" Zatanna answered before casting a spell to turn some of the bullets into bubbles

"What by herself! So while she's playing detective were out here doing the real work" kid flash yelled back

"Get over yourself Kid and don't worry you of all people should know she can handle herself"

"If you two are done talking maybe you could focus on the mission" Robin said as he flipped in front of both of them while simultaneously throwing three birdarangs at two thugs that were about to shoot at them

Kaldur summoned a wave causing the guards to be temporarily stunned allowing him to board the ship "_Robin dispose of the chemicals while we engage the guards and secure the ship" _he ordered within the mental link

Me'gan became invisible and flew above the ship while Superboy jumped and landed right in the middle of the fight. Kid Flash grabbed Zatanna and ran aboard and Robin merely sunk into the shadows and disappeared.

* * *

><p>Artemis was pulled back by a strong pair of hands and her first instinct was to try and elbow her attacker in the stomach. However her move was anticipated causing her hand to be painfully pulled behind her while being thrown into the wall. During this process her other hand was pulled above her head and forced behind her until she had one elbow pointing to the sky and the other pointing towards the ground with the perpetrator holding her hands in the middle of her back.<p>

"Hold still or you're going to hurt yourself" said a familiar voice in Artemis' ear

At the sound of this voice Artemis instantly stiffened and stopped moving "Jade" she managed to say while trying to look at her sister through the corner of her eye "what game are you playing because right now I am so not in the mood"

"You're too serious all the time that's why I can always beat you, you need to be more lose and free" Jade said still using her playful voice. She paused then continued more seriously "If I let you go you promise not to attack me, I only came here to talk"

Gunfire and yelling could be heard coming from the fight on the ship just a few hundred feet away

"Yeah like I can take your word for it" Artemis replied sarcastically

"Artemis"

"Fine I promise now let me go" she relented through gritted teeth

* * *

><p>The team was hardly making any headway these guards were clearly better trained and equipped than those on the docks.<p>

Superboy was surrounded. Fifteen guards were all firing at him as well as using taser guns to bring him to his knees. Me'gan saw he was in trouble and started levitating some of the guard's taser guns and firing them at the men surrounding Superboy. One of the guards noticed this and thought he saw something strange with the sky above them so he fired his flame thrower towards the it and soon heard a loud scream followed by Miss Martian falling to the deck.

Superboy became enraged when he heard Me'gan fall he no longer cared about controlling his strength. He went after the guards around her like a wild animal throwing them off the ship as soon as he got a hold of one.

Kaldur created two huge water hammers sweeping the floor with any that came near pushing several into the reach of an angry Superboy

Kid Flash would run towards their attackers drawing their attention and fire giving Zatanna the time she needed to cast her spells. This plan worked perfectly until one of the guards got in a lucky punch making Kid Flash slip on the wet floor and slide nearly off the side of the ship. Zatanna was able stop him before he slid off giving him the opportunity to get up. As Kid Flash got to his knees he saw a man sneaking behind Zatanna

"Behind you!"

Zatanna turned in time to see the man raise his weapon as he was about to hit her with the butt of his gun, however, the man never got the chance because at the moment there was a violent explosion causing the ship to lurk towards the right making everyone on deck slide to the edge.

* * *

><p>Jade released her hands and took a step back still ready to defend herself if her sister decided not to keep her promise. As Artemis turned around to face Jade she rubbed her wrists and stretched her arms trying to get the blood circulating again.<p>

"If all you wanted to do was talk then why did you attack me" Artemis asked through gritted teeth still angry at her sister for pinning her up against the wall

"Come now Artemis, would you really have talked to me if I stopped you on the street and tried to have a normal conversation with you" Jade said placing her hands on her side and leaning on her left leg. When Artemis didn't respond she continued "exactly"

"Whatever" Replied Artemis finally getting the feeling back in her arms "what is so important that you had to attack me to get my attention" she said as she casually walked over and picked up her bow from where she dropped it. Without it she felt uncomfortable and too vulnerable.

"A warning and an offer" Artemis narrowed her eyes but didn't say anything "I'm still not a hundred percent sure what's going on but I know the league of shadows is collecting kids that they've been interested in for a long time and continuing some project"

"And what does any of this have to do with me?"

"We were apart of that project, Artemis, don't you remember going to that youth center and having those doctors examine us?"

"What are you talking about I've never been to any youth center before?"

"You've forgotten?" Jade said as she raised an eyebrow

"No Jade I think you're confused"

"Look, Artemis, Sportsmaster is looking for you and I know for a matter of fact he is about to send people to bring you back"

"And how exactly do you know this" Artemis asked "and if we both we experimented on then why are they only after me?"

"I know this because I all ready intercepted some of them" jade stated "and there not after me because I left before the experiments were completed plus I am protected by my mistress which brings me back to my offer"

"And what would that offer be?" Artemis asked skeptical

"Come join Talia Al Ghul's personal guard and work with me she has already agreed to let you work for her. No one in their right mind would go against the princess of assassins"

"I got away from that life there's no way I would just go back, not even if my life depended on it" Artemis replied dead serious

"Then take this as a warning little sis and stay on your guard because I won't be able to keep them away forever" Jade said as she slipped into the shadows and disappeared

Artemis stood there for a second thinking about the conversation she just had before running towards the direction of the ship. The closer she got the louder the gunfire and shouting became until she came upon it and shot a grappling arrow to climb up the side. When she reached the railing on the deck there was a sudden exposition which threatened to throw her back on to the dock. Just as her hand slipped someone grabbed her and pulled her back on board.

"Nice of you to finally join us" Kid Flash said as he tried catching his breath

"What was that explosion?" Artemis yelled ignoring his earlier statement

"I don't know but it came from below deck"

"_Artemis Kid Flash are you there" _Kaldur asked threw the mental link

"_Yes were here what's going on" _Artemis answered him

"_The decks below us have caught fire and Robin is still down there" _Kaldur replied

"_I'll go get him" _Kid Flash stated as he was about to run

"_No Me'gan is unconscious and cannot cal the bioship I need you to help move any injured or trapped guards off the boat" _Kaldur ordered

"_No way you can't be serious Robin's still down there" _Kid Flash complained

"_I'll go get him" _Artemis said as she was running below deck

* * *

><p>It was hot below deck and getting hotter by the second. Artemis kept on running until she came to a cargo hold where the fire was the strongest. The big room was lit orange and red with the furry of the flames that threatened to consume everything in its path.<p>

"Robin where are you! Robin" Artemis yelled as she searched the room

The smoke was starting to get to her causing her lungs to burn and eyes to tear. She looked for her oxygen mask and quickly put it on when she found it. Artemis stayed low to the floor continuing her search.

"Robin answer me" Artemis yelled again getting worried

She frantically continued her search until she heard a small cough "over here…" cough "I'm over here" said a week voice

"Robin hold on" Artemis yelled again as she turned over some broken crates that trapped the boy wonder underneath

Artemis took off her mask and gave it to him offering some much needed reprieve from the smoke. His head had an inch gash above his right eye and his costume was torn in several places revealing some minor burns on his arms "The containers seemed to have some sort of built in fail safe that would detonate several charges throughout the room if the chemicals were rendered inert" Robin said anticipating the question forming in the archers mind

"That doesn't matter right now, the only thing that does is getting you out of here" Artemis said as she lifted him off the ground by putting his arm around her shoulder

The walk up the stairs and to the outer deck was painful and even though the boy wonder tried to suppress any groans it was obvious he was in pain

The moment the pair stepped outside they were met with a gush of wide and a blur of red and yellow "What took you so long blondie? I was about t…." Kid Flash trailed off as he saw the state his best friend was in

"Robin needs medical attention. Run him to the bioship I'll be close behind"

"O.K but don't take too long" Kid answered before running to the ship with the injured bird in hand. He quickly handed Robin to Kaldur and Zatanna "he needs help but I'm going back for Artemis"

A few seconds later Kid Flash was back with the team's archer "you were taking too long we need to leave now" and with that he ran aboard the ship ready to head to the cave to treat the now unconscious Robin's injuries

* * *

><p>Artemis was sitting at Robin's bedside the moment Black Canary left the room he had woken up right after arriving at the cave's infirmary. The rest of the team hit the showers and were getting ready for bed, they were told Robin suffered a minor concussion including the gash on his head, several minor burns on his arms, smoke inhalation and a bruise that ran the length of his right abdomen. Wally was done showering but decided to wait outside for and give those two a minute.<p>

"This is all my fault" Artemis said resting her arms on her knees and looking at the floor

"How is any of this your fault?" Robin asked laughing at the fact Artemis was beating herself up over this

"It's because I found that stupid flash drive we even had this mission but more importantly if I didn't get distracted I would have been down there with you"

"Wow it really is all your fault" Robin said giving her the biggest smirk when she raised her head to stare him down

"The only thing that would have been different if you were with me would be that you would also be in here getting your burns bandaged"

"You may think that but I bet batman's going to chew me out for not watching your back" Artemis said worriedly

"No he's not… well maybe he can be over protective at times"

"Thanks for making me not worry" said Artemis sarcastically

They both heard someone clear their throat from the hall way and a moment later batman walked in. Even under his mask one could tell he was not happy one bit

"Um I'll just leave you two alone" Artemis whispered as she backed threw the door

"_Yeah not happy one bit"_

**A/N: Wow this chapter was hard to write. I knew exactly what I wanted to do but it still took me forever to sort everything out :) like always thanks so to Alex Skywalker, XxSlayerChickxX, SuperGLEEK97, greekfreak101, Pink Guns and Sunfl0wer S33ds, B-b-birdy (), alamodie, and ashley () for taking the time to read and review my story :) wow I think that's the most reviews I've ever received for one chapter :) and thanks all those who silently read this **


	13. Chapter 13

**It has been mentioned more than once that my writing could use some improvement and that I should get a beta. So if anyone's interested or at least could explain to me how to get one I would really appreciate it because I looked at the beta page and was completely lost.**

**Disclaimer: young justice does not belong to me**

There was a warm gentle breeze blowing a top the tall building of Star Cities down town area. It was a calm night with most of the criminals in jail or a sleep at this late hour. Two of the cities protectors sat on the edge of a tall skyscraper looking out for whatever trouble there may be. A tall man dressed in all green with a bow hung over his shoulder walked over to a young girl similarly dressed, with the exception of her midriff showing, looking intently down at the people below.

"I think it's time to call it a night" the emerald archer said as he placed a hand on the shoulder of his protégé "I don't think we'll see any more action tonight"

"Yeah I guess" Artemis answered still hopping there was someone out there to fight. She felt frustrated over resent event's and wanted someone she could take it out on.

"Artemis is everything alright" Green Arrow asked his clearly upset protégé.

"Everything's perfect" her answer was short just like all of her replies had been that night. Throughout the patrol Green Arrow had been trying to have Artemis engage in a conversation even asking how the weather was in Gotham but all he would receive were short answers a simple yes or no or three or four words.

"I'm just worried about you kid. It's not like you to call me up and suddenly want to go on patrol and especially excepting my offer to stay the night"

Earlier that afternoon Ollie received a call from his protégé asking if he wanted to go on patrol. Its been awhile since he and Artemis had a spent much time together so he jumped at the offer but it soon became apparent that the young archer didn't come to hang out but more likely to get away from something. It shocked him even more when she had said yes to spending the night with him and Dinah at the mansion and maybe get breakfast the next morning.

"Its not girl issues right? Because Black Canary should be the one to explain any changes you may be going through right now and don't worry it's natural to be feeling strange"

Artemis turned to look at her mentor wondering where that came from.

"She could also help with any boy trouble BC is really good with that kind of thing. At your age you shouldn't really take anything boy's say to seriously their pigs and only want one thing ok, **one thing**"

At this Artemis pulled her hand over her mouth and looked towards the floor her shoulders soon began to shake and she let out muffled sounds but only because she was having trouble controlling her laughter at how wrong her mentor was for the reason why she was upset. Her mentor on the other hand took this as a sign that some boy hurt her after…Ugh he didn't even want to think it.

"Oh my god! Who was it. What **bastard** dared touch my protégé" Green Arrow yelled as he threw his hands in the air, in rage he started pacing "Artemis who hurt you was it someone from Gotham, from the team"

It was becoming harder and harder for Artemis to control her laughter. She found she couldn't breathe and soon her legs gave way under her making her fall to her knees still trying to hold in her amusement. Green Arrow saw this as confirmation it was someone from the team.

"The team, it can't be Kaldur or Connor and Robin's to young" the emerald archer mumbled under his breath "that **perverted** speedster" he yelled again "How dare he touch Artemis. I'm going to kill him" he placed his hand on his ear piece an called the Flash "Flash you better tell that **damn** nephew of yours his ass is mine for hurting Artemis" and with that he ended the communication ignoring the returning calls of a very confused speedster.

"Stop" the young archer finally managed to say

"No! Nothing you say is going to make it alright for what he did to you" Arrow said ready to run to Central City and castrate the young speedster.

"You've got it all wrong nothing ever happened between me and Kid Flash" she said Kid Flashes name with disgust with the thought that her mentor thinks him and her… ick "the reason I'm upset has nothing to even do with boys"

"So you're still a virgin"

Artemis nearly face palms at his statement "that's what's important to you right now"

"Yes it is important. You're still so young and you have a lot of time to be an adult but you're only a kid for so long. It's important to wait for that special someone you know you truly love because honest kids your age fall in and out of in a matter of minutes. Your husband shoul…" Artemis cuts him off middle rant by her uncontrollable laughter "Why are you laughing?"

"Because I was always taught that intimacy as an easy way to make your target vulnerable. That little speech you just gave was the closest thing I've ever had to The Talk"

Green Arrow makes a mental note to ask Dinah to sit down with Artemis and have a girl to girl talk. He sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose "so if it's not boys that are bothering you what is it?"

* * *

><p>"So she just left to her Uncle's without saying anything?" Barbra said over her cell phone as she walked home from gymnastics practice "I didn't even know she had an uncle"<p>

"Well he's not really her uncle he's more like her archery coach" Dick answered trying not to give too much away

"Does her leaving have anything to do with you being hurt" Barbra asked trying to get back to the main topic of their conversation

"Yeah she thinks it's all her fault, this might have also brought back some unwanted memories about her mother's death and Bruce didn't help any"

"What did he say to her?"

"He didn't say anything really only that he expected us to look after each other better and to be more responsible and careful" he replied summarizing the long two hour lecture into a few words "Bruce just has a weird way of showing he cares".

"Well you shouldn't have dared each other to climb to the top of a tree in the first place and to get distracted by a bird's nest that caused you to fall was a really dumb move" that was the story they had come up with to tell the school and anyone else that may ask

"Hey, you didn't see the bird it was worth the fall"

"I think the fall might have knocked your brain around too" she said smirking at how weird her friend is "If it's not really her fault then why did she leave"

"I think that has more to do with everything that's happened with her mom being killed and then the adoption she's a little stressed" Dick said understanding that the pain doesn't leave over night but comes back in waves and sometimes at the worst possible times.

"I always wondered how she was taking it, what she went through was traumatizing and I knew it was not good for her to hold it in but whenever anyone said something about it she would immediately shut them out"

"I know she sometimes talked to Alfred about it but not very much. Let's just hope her uncle could get her to open up a little more"

* * *

><p>"So if it's not boys that are bothering you what is it?"<p>

Artemis sighs she really doesn't want to talk about it but at the same time she realizes that every day she keeps it in the more it hurts "It's complicated"

"Well it's just you and me up here and the city is safe for the night so" he made a gesture for her to continue with his hand

"It's more than just one thing really" Green Arrow nods his head "It's my mom, the adoption, Cheshire, Sportsmaster, Batman, Robin and everything" she said throwing her arms in the air to indicate everything

"Ok let's take this one step at a time chose one issue and let's focus on that" he said trying his hardest to help Artemis through this.

"I must be the world's worst daughter" she said after being silent for a moment

"What would make you think that?"

"It's been three months since my mom died but I laughed and had fun nearly right after." She began speaking louder and faster with each word "I haven't cried since the day she died and only now is it really starting to hurt that she's gone, before it was like a void just a numb feeling but now it's just…I just don't know ok"

"Artemis everyone handles grief differently and I've known people that acted like nothing happened for several years before experiencing pain from the loss it's the way they coped" Artemis looked him in the eye "time heals all wounds Artemis, it's ok to hurt but you can't be mad at yourself for not staying locked up in your room and grieving 24/7 and you know Paula would never of wanted you to do that not even for her. Did I at least help a little there?"

He did make her feel better or at least was until he asked but she wasn't going to tell him that "yeah at least I know I'm not the only one who has trouble with grieving"

"If you want to hear about someone having trouble with grieving you should hear how… no that's a story for some other time. So what else was bothering you Batman and Robin?"

"It's not that there bothering me it's just I don't want to let them down… you down"

"Artemis I have been nothing but proud of you since the day I met you"

"That's the thing you've only met me last year, before that I couldn't dream about my future. I knew I was going to end up working for the shadows but honestly I never thought I would live to see thirty until you and Batman found me and offered a spot on the team" she stared at him quietly before continuing "that's the most anyone has ever done for me in my entire life, how can I ever repay that"

"The league doesn't do thing to get repaid we do it because it's the right thing to do" he placed both hands on her shoulder "you chose to fight crime, you deserve to be called a hero, and you've earned the right to be on the team if you really want to repay us just keep being true to yourself be the girl I know you are"

She smiled awkwardly at him and starts to rub the back of her neck. She's not really used to getting positive feedback and is not sure how to handle it "wow that's the nicest thing anyone could have said to me"

"Well it's the truth so what's next Cheshire and sportsmaster?" Green Arrow asked becoming more confident with his ability to help his protégé; he begins to think Dinah should give him more credit

"There's not enough hours in the day to explain all the problems I have with them" Artemis said as she crossed her arms "but the cliff note's version on recent events, my estranged sister keeps popping up at the worst possible times trying to warn me that my psychotic father is planning on kidnapping me to restart some stupid project and not to mention…"

"Wait sportsmaster is after you! Artemis this is serious why haven't you told anyone before?" he yells not at her but at the situation

"Don't worry GA this is probably Jade's lame attempt to get me back into the league of shadows she's already offered me a job as one of Talia al Ghoul's body guards or something like that" she says waving her hand like it's nothing

"I don't know Artemis I think this warrants further investigation" Arrow said while rubbing his goatee in deep thought

"Well while your investigating that I think I'll turn in for tonight, there's a comfy warm bed out there and I know it's calling my name" the young archer yells as she jumps to another building already heading to the Queen mansion

The emerald archer laughed at his protégé's spirit, he knew she wasn't going to get over all her problems with just a simple talk but the fact she opened up to him meant she was ready to try. He began to take off after her when a loud explosion rang out in the quiet night "**Arrow**" he heard his young charge scream and his heart dropped. In an instant he was at the place where his protégé had screamed from.

"Artemis! Artemis!" he yelled and yelled again. He looked around the abandoned roof and saw a scorch mark on the floor with several broken arrows littering the ground "Artemis!" he tried one last time but it was too late he knew she was gone.

* * *

><p>"All right Dick I'm almost home you don't have to worry much longer" Barbra tells Dick with a smirk on her face. He usually walks her home from gym practice when her dad can't pick her up and she knows it's bugging him to death that he can't now but honestly she's taken this same route the whole years and nothing's happened before why should it now<p>

"Come on Babs its Gotham you should always use the buddy system"

"And how exactly does that work when my buddy is at home resting from a stupid stunt he just had to pull" she asked sarcastically

"Hey give me **some **credit if something did happen I could call for help" Dick answered with a smirk on his face if something were to happen he would be there as fast as he could to save her

"That's comforting to know while your calmly calling the cops I'll be fighting for my… **CRASH**" as Barbra was in the middle of speaking a black minivan pulled up beside her and pulled her in causing her cell phone to fall to the floor. Before she even knew what happened a masked figure stuck a needle in her arm and the darkness soon over took her.

"Babs! Barbra! Come on answer me!" Dick yelled helplessly over the phone while rushing to put on his costume

**A/N: Happy 4****TH**** of July :) if only I lived in an area where we could light fireworks, I heard it's a big thing on the east coast is that true? Thanks to ****ashley (), Syl, SuperGLEEK97, and****Pink Guns and Sunfl0wer S33ds**** for taking the time and reviewing I always appreciate it.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Still looking for a beta **

**Disclaimer: young justice does not belong to me**

Within the walls of Mount Justice frustrated yelling and consistent pounding could be heard coming from the training room

"I was right there!" Green Arrow yelled while punching the wall again and again "It's all my fault if I was only faster I could have…" a hand gently touched his shoulder and he slowly turned around

"You got there as fast as you could, no one is blaming you so don't blame yourself" Black Canary said as she tried to sooth the father of her unborn child "Artemis wasn't the only one taken last night. A friend of Robins, who happens to be the daughter of Commissioner Gordon, was also kidnapped while on the phone with him. He's really upset over all of this too"

"But he wasn't in a position to save her, I was only a few yards away" he walked away from her towards some old training dummies and threw them against the wall "and she trusted me to protect her! We finally had a heart to heart and I let the same people who killed her mother take her away, God only knows what they're doing to her!" he yells louder as he continues to destroy the training room "It's been over 24 hours since she was taken and we still have no leads"

"Ollie we'll find her I promise it's all going to be ok" Canary yelled trying to be heard over his tantrum

"How can you just say that, we don't know…" he was unable to finish the thought before Dinah had taken him down and pinned him below her. She had grown very tired of his pity me session

"I know because I have faith in Artemis and the league but no one's going to be saved if you don't get off your butt and help look for her" she said to him through silted eyes

Arrow was momentarily taken back by her harsh words before he realized she was right and they should be focusing all their efforts on finding Artemis "I don't think that was good for the baby" he responded moving his face closer to hers

She nudged him playfully as she began to get to her feet "well if you didn't act like such a big baby in the first place I wouldn't have had to knock some sense into you"

Mean while in the briefing room batman was having a hard time tracing the whereabouts of the league of shadows. It was only him and wonder woman in the room and he was all too aware of her eyes on him "batman I know how much this must be hurting you but your no help to anyone unless you get some rest"

"I'll get some rest once I'm able to determine where the shadows have taken all the children" he replied in his unemotional voice "I knew I should have upgraded her tracker to be able to resist dampeners" he mumbled under his breath

"What did you just say?"

"Nothing"

"No you said something about a tracker" Wonder Woman stated putting her hands on her hips "Don't tell me you actually went through with your plan to implant a tracker on Robin and now you've done the same with Artemis." he stopped typing but continued to face the holographic screen "So what, is every member of the team chipped?"

"No, it's up to the rest of the team's individual mentor to decide what's best for them but these are my kids and I'll do whatever it takes to protect them" with that he began typing again. Wonder Woman stared at him for a few moments before beginning to walking out the door, she knew the dark night may be cold and calculating at times but he was a man that cared deeply for his family even if they're not related by blood. "Gather everyone I believe I've found something" she heard him say after she'd left the room

She continued walking until she came upon the living room slash kitchen area for the cave where the team was waiting or more like being held there by their mentors until batman had something for them.

Me'gan was sitting close to Connor his hands around her shoulders, Kaldur sat in a chair deep in thought, Wally paced the room, and Zatanna stood next to Robin, who was extremely quiet, against the wall. Their mentors stood together conversing amongst themselves in hushed tones.

"You can't keep us here! Not when Artemis is missing!" Wally said frustratedly as he paced the room, staying still was never his specialty

"Acting blindly is just as bad as not acting at all" Red Tornado stated with his robotic voice

"Oh come on don't give us that…" Wally stopped when Robin came up behind him and grab his shoulder, he didn't even notice he moved.

He turned to look at the young bird instantly seeing the determination behind his mask "were going to save them"

"Batman says he's found something" Wonder Woman spoke from the doorway then quickly leaving the room to fetch Green Arrow and Black Canary

Robin swiftly left the room after the Amazon without another word soon followed by his team and their mentors. They came to rest in front of a holographic screen displaying a map of Gotham city, moments later Wonder Woman, Arrow, and Canary walked in and stood next to the team. Wally quickly moved from next to Robin to behind his uncle, he doesn't know why exactly but Green Arrow told his uncle that he was going to castrate him

"What have you found batman?"

* * *

><p>The room was well lit filled from wall to wall with glowing pods that held children suspended in a yellow liquid. These children were all similarly dress in white clothes that resembled bathing suits. They appeared to be only sleeping, the only movement coming from the bubbles that were periodically released from the breathing masks attached to their faces. Towards the bottom of each pod was a screen that displayed the subjects name and vital signs.<p>

A sliding door opened revealing a tall muscular blond man; he silently walked into the room approaching one of the pods that held a young blond girl. The man didn't need to look around to know he was the only conscious one in the room.

"This all would have been so much easier if your foolish mother didn't develop morals and plant stupid ideas about heroism in your head" he smirked as he noticed the young girl's hand flinch. His daughter might be contained but he knew she could hear him and that's exactly what he wanted

"You see Artemis you were born to be a weapon for the Shadows always destined to kill and fight. You once asked how your mother and I met and I told you on a mission for the Shadows" he paused for a moment "well that was only part of the truth. The real mission was to combine our genetic material and create the optimum specimens for this very project." he only wished she was awake to see the look on her face "The fact that Paula and I actually fell in love was completely unexpected, it took awhile for us both to realize this but once we did life became pure bliss"

_Two figures jumped from roof top to roof top followed closely by police sirens and one noisy helicopter. They were both experienced assassins and could have easily lost their pursers, but where's the fun in that. While being chased they would play little games like who could jump the fastest, throw the farthest, knock out the most cops, steal the most police badges and see how long they could kiss and run. On this particular night the tie breaker was who could take out the helicopter the fastest; Paula had reached for her cross bow but was beaten to the draw by Laurence and his explosive javelins. He perfectly aimed his shot at the back propellers taking out the whole tail instantly, causing the helicopter to spin in circles as it crashed to the ground in a beautiful display of fire and metal. _

"For years everything seemed to be going great, jobs were coming in left and right, you and your sister were progressing well with training but all that had to change when your mother decided that there was more to life than killing" sportsmaster said in a bitter tone "it was actually a relief when she was taken out of the picture with that accident, she had been bugging me for quite awhile about quitting this life and was starting to convince me. I had hoped a few years in jail would help her realize people like us never change but that was just false hope. The only reason I left you with her was so that you could see how pathetic and futile it was trying to live on the right side of the law. However, I never expected you to be taken in by the Justice League"

At the mention of the league Artemis' hand twitches again, this did not escape the notice of her father "Do you want to know why your mother died the way she did? I'm sure you realize she could have been taken out any number of ways most of which more painful than being shot. I'll give you two reasons pain and humiliation" Artemis' heart rate increased slightly "You see it was painfully obvious how week you've become since you joined that league of losers and I needed you to be shocked into the harsh cold reality of your life. So if you want to blame anyone for Paula's death it should be them" her heart rate continued to increase and he gave her a harsh smile

"But don't worry sweet heart when you wake up it will be like you never left the Shadows" his smile became more sincere "it will be good having you back in the family business I've even heard that we have one of your little friends from school with us. If she survives I bet you'll both have a great time killing together, we could also give you your own team to go on missions with"

The sliding door opens again and Doctor Hedrick walks into the room "It's not good to stress out the subjects more than need be" a fresh voice joins the one sided conversation

"I'm just having a bonding moment with my daughter, explaining Paula's death before she forgets" the Doctor walks by sportsmaster without a word and injects a tranquilizer into a feeding compartment for her pod

"That's all fine and well but if it risks destabilizing the subject at this critical stage it might be better to leave some things unspoken" he said as he finished and checked all of her vitals, in seconds Artemis visibly relaxed and stopped fidgeting "we're about to begin the most strenuous part of the experiments, even one bred for this project has a chance of dying" and with that Doctor Hedrick walked out the door

Sportsmaster turned to leave but stopped half way to the door "You're a Crock Artemis, you'll survive and when you wake up you'll be daddies little girl again" he continued to walk out the door leaving the room full of sleeping children behind

* * *

><p>"What have you found batman?"<p>

Batman turned and pressed several buttons "a name" he said as a profile of one Doctor Reese Hedrick lit up the screen "Reese Hedrick is our lead to finding all of the missing children, including Artemis"

"Why is some doctor going to lead us to the shadows?" Wally asked without thinking and received a batglare in return

"The shadows have been conducting human experiments, a project which is being led by Hedrick"

"Wait! So the shadows are experimenting on Artemis!" now it was Green Arrow that shouted out

"We don't know that for sure but it is a possibility"

**A/N: For some reason this was a really hard chapter to write, maybe because the hell fire song from Hunchback of Notre dame was stuck in my head :) sorry for the delay but this week was really busy and I found out I'm going to be a Tia again :) I already have a niece so I hope it's a boy. Thanks so much to Gruffard, I love you Roza, Believe-daydream-Fly529, alamodie, Ashley, SuperGLEEK97, and Vendenlor for leaving awesome reviews :)** **and thanks to everyone else who reads this story**


	15. Chapter 15

**The only oc in my story that has any real part to play is Dr. Hedrick and he's just a minor character. Isaiah (hot spot) is not an oc but I don't really know much about him so I'm taking creative liberty :) **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or any of its characters **

Within the walls of Wayne Manor a charity event was being held for orphaned children in Gotham. Everyone from the Mayor to Commissioner Gordon was there. The halls were filled with the sounds of laughter and music echoing throughout the building. A solitary boy sat in the corner of the ballroom with his arms crossed over his chest looking like he would rather jump in a volcano then be at this party. Soon the boy have had enough of that worthless party and walked quickly to his room.

A knock at the door "Master Dick I'm coming in with supper" Alfred said as he opened the door carrying a tray of food in his arms "and where do you think you're going at this late hour?" the butler asked raising an eye brow at the currently suited boy wonder

"It's too quiet here I just have to get out" Robin said as he grabbed some food from Alfred

"I do believe there is still a party going on down stairs making noise" the butler stated with a stoic face, even though he knew what the young boy had meant

"Unlike Bruce or Gordon I can't look carefree and pretend to the outside world Artemis and Barbra are studying overseas at some prestigious girl's school" Robin said as he opened the secret passage way in his room that led to the batcave. He briskly walked down the winding stair case followed by Alfred. Robin continued walking until he came upon the clear glass containers that housed the caves inhabitants costumes, he stopped in front of the container that still held batgirls costume and place his hand on the glass "I have to find them Alfred and playing at some party is not going to do anyone any good"

"I understand completely" the butler said. Robin looked up at the glass and saw Alfred's sad reflection staring at him "without Miss Artemis here the house does seem to quiet and empty, it's hard to believe but I miss the messes the both of you would create and the silly games that would anger the batman during patrols"

Robin chuckled to himself at the memories of him and Artemis during patrols, one time they had taken out a minor gang and glued the thug's hands to the shoulders of the man in front of them to make it look like they were in one big Congo line that just wrapped into a never ending circle. Needless to say Batman didn't find the joke as funny and made them both wash the Batmobile with toothbrushes after he fought clay face.

As quickly as the memory came it passed and he remembered that Artemis wasn't there to play games anymore. He balled his hand into a fist and hit the glass "Four weeks! Four weeks they've been gone and were basically at square one" Robin said in a harsh voice "they probably think we've abandoned them"

"The young lady I know would never give up so easily and would probably throw you against that wall right now for even thinking that" Alfred said as he pulled the young boy away from the display case as he ushered him to the monitor that's linked to every database known to man "it will do no one any good moping about the things we cannot change, instead let's focus on what we can"

* * *

><p><em>It was dark, almost pitch black, muffled conversations could be heard all around her, laughter, screams, arguments and happy voices echoed through her head. The voices sounded so familiar as if she could almost place the names, she knew these people talking. She cared about them and them for her. Blurred faces would fly across her vision mocking her at how close they were but always out of reach…ring…ring…ring <em>

Artemis awoke to her alarm blaring in her ear, she sat up in her small bed and looked around the 8 by 8 foot room she called her own. Next to her bed stood a night stand which held a lamp, alarm clock and an old picture of her family. Across the room a desk was pushed up against the wall containing some documents and schedules for her training, next to the desk was a shelf that held all of her gear and tools she preferred to use.

Artemis stayed in bed another minute trying to remember those conversations she never had, she thought it was kind of stupid but she could never shake the feeling that it was important.

A knock at the door followed by a red headed girl sticking her head into the room "Artemis hurry up or the boys will eat all the food again and I'm not waiting for you this time" and with that the door slammed shut

Artemis jumped out of bed at first she was a little dizzy from the sudden movement but it soon passed. She changed into worn pants and a shirt and quickly put her hair up in her usual ponytail. The reason why she was in such a rush was because the last time she was late for breakfast she had no energy to complete that days training which meant no diner. It really sucked being on a team where everyone else liked to wake up early.

She left the gray walls of her room behind and walked down the hall towards the mess area, the room was loud filled with yells and laughter. She walked in dodging an apple thrown across the room and finally made it to the table she was designated. The room was of medium size and had six tables with four people assigned to each one. Everyone in this room was orphaned or had lost family members as a result of the Justice Leagues phony justice and was taken in by the shadows. The people one sits with are their team members, they train together and execute missions together, and it was common to think of them as a surrogate family.

Artemis came into the room very alert ready to save her food from the clutches of her teammates. They have a nasty habit of stealing food from those late to breakfast. She arrived just in time to see a green hand reach across the table and touch her plate; with the grace from years of practice. Artemis pulled out a small knife from a well hidden place on her person and threw it towards the hand trapping it by the sleeve of it's to the table "Ow! Artemis did you really need to stab me" a green boy who was no older than 12 yelled at her

"Don't be such a baby Garf she only hit your shirt" a young man with dark skin and very short hair who looked to be almost 17 laughed

"I told you to stop taking my food but you never seem to learn" Artemis said taking her place at the table "my foods already cold? I wasn't even that late" she said with a sigh

"I could always heat it up for you" the young man suggested as he held up his hand which burst into flames

"Knowing you, Isaiah, you'll burn it to a crisp" Barbra said as she took a drink of orange juice

"It's not my fault I like my food extra crispy, you all just don't know how to appreciate good food" Isaiah answered pretending to be hurt by Barbra's accusation

Artemis laughed along with the rest of her table. She was happy but still something felt off. She looked around the table staring at each person and remembered their own painful pasts. Garfield, he was one of the youngest in the room, he lived with his mother in Africa on an animal reserve but his she was killed by a villain the league refused to take out even though he was a deranged murderer, the man took Garf and experimented on him until the shadows killed the man and took in Garf.

Isaiah's family was like hers they worked for the shadows, his family was at first afraid of his skills but soon became very proud at the missions he completed due to them. But their happiness didn't last long when the Justice League came for his parents and due to their carelessness sent them over the edge of a building to their deaths. It's been two years since then and he still burns with as much hatred for the league as he did then.

Artemis has known Barbra the longest; she was only five when her mother was killed during a battle between the League and an alien invader. Her father became mad with grief and tried to take both their lives but fortunately Artemis' father was close to the scene and saved the young girl taking her to the league and training her next to his own children. Artemis and Barbra work the best when their together creating a deadly combination of combat skills and technological expertise.

Artemis' story was not a happy one either. Six years ago her mother took her on a simple job in Gotham. All she had to do was snipe a man through a window and walk away, Artemis had begged to go and hopefully get to pull the trigger. Just as the plan was to go down a dark shadow grabbed her mother. They fought for several minutes but eventually her mom was thrown off the roof to her death by the Batman. She remembers him glaring at her as if she were nothing but a bug he could crush. He turned his back on her walking into the shadows leaving her alone on the roof top until her father came to get her. If there was one person Artemis would die to kill it would be the Batman.

"Artemis?"

"Earth to archery girl"

"Hey are you ok?"

Fingers were snapping and waving in front of her eyes bringing her out of her head "oh, ya I'm ok just thinking about stuff" she said focusing in on them

"Good stuff or bad stuff? Was it about my birthday are you going to get me a present? Is it going to be big? Is it…" Garfield said speaking fast but then getting cut off by Barbra

"Garf your birthday is not for another three months"

"Ya but that doesn't mean she can't be thinking about it now" He said smiling sheepishly

"All right you three it's time we get going our infiltration and espionage class starts in five minutes and then were heading to the gym for practical battle tactics and evasion techniques" Isaiah said as he stood up pulling Garf by his shirt up with him

"Whose bright idea was it to put Ish in charge anyway" he mumbled as he pulled his shirt back down while walking out the door with the rest of his team

* * *

><p>Sportsmaster walked into the observation deck hidden above the gym. The room was filled with monitors and screens recording every move any of the subjects made. He walked straight to a big glass window and stood next to Dr. Hedrick observing his daughters team below<p>

"Their progress is remarkable, their physically and mentally stronger and two of them have already developed abilities with the other two not far behind. While the rest of the subjects are still suffering from the adverse side effects of project" the doctor said flipping through papers on his clip board

"I would not expect any less from this team, they were specifically chosen for this very reason" sportsmaster responded "how are the alterations to their memories holding up?"

"Everything looks to be going well, the most vulnerable time is during sleep but nothing has come of it and in time even that should subside" Hedrick said looking straight at sportsmaster

"Good because we've decided it's time for them to go on a mission" sportsmaster stated calmly

"Already but it's only been a few weeks and the league is still looking for them, we've spent years working on this and if there captured…" the doctor faltered at the look he received from his companion

"They would be useless to us if we're too afraid to use them. Besides I'd love to imagine those pathetic heroes faces as they learn one of their former protégés killed a man in cold blood" sportsmaster said with an evil smile "they will leave tonight, this is a great opportunity for them to prove their loyalty while also getting their hands dirty"

**A/N: There hasn't been a lot of Robin recently and I'm trying to get him more involved. I'm leaving to Florida on Saturday and will not be able to upload for two weeks, I'm going to try to update one more time before then but no promises. My thanks goes out to noaverageangel, Guest, Ashley, SuperGLEEK97, Guest, I love you Roza, steive4eva, and Keepmovingforwar for leaving awesome reviews :) **


	16. Chapter 16

**A special shout out to SuperGLEEK97 for reviewing every chapter**

**Disclaimer: I do not own**

Garfield yawned while stretching his arms as he walked over to where Artemis and Barbra were standing. It was a little past 2 in the morning when their whole team was literally thrown out of bed by Isaiah and ordered to be in the briefing room in 10 minutes. Three out of four of their team members were not very happy about the loss of sleep.

"What is important enough to mess with my sleep" a very annoyed Barbra said to no one in particular "it better not be another stupid trick from Terry and his team to make us mess up during training so they could be number 1, because if it is they will have hell to pay!" she finished cracking her fingers while thinking about possible revenge

"We are receiving our first mission in over a month, there is nothing more important than that" Isaiah spoke from across the room as he was finishing his routinely stretches

"A mission yes, finally!" a very excited green boy yelled as he turned into a human/monkey hybrid and flipped around the room "It's been like forever since we've been on a job and a new game system is coming out so I could really use the money"

"Don't waste your money on stupid games Garf, save it for something important that you can use in real life" Artemis said as she tripped the boy causing him to land on his stomach and change back to normal

"What can be more important than video games? I mean if…" he was cut off mid sentence by the sliding door opening and sportsmaster and Lady Shiva walking into the room

"I'm glad to see you all awake and ready for your next mission" sportsmaster said as he came to the middle of the room and activated the holocomputer "remember to give us detailed reports on your mission and the performance of your new uniforms" he said to them while waiting for all the documents needed for the mission briefing to appear on screen.

The uniform each team member was wearing was specifically designed for their unique body types and abilities. Isaiah's was made to withstand the extreme heat his powers create, while Garfield's is able to adjust to his many transformations. Barbra and Artemis' suits were equipped with a variety of gadgets and projectiles with Barbra's focusing more on her technological abilities and Artemis' on her combat and marksman ship skills. The most important feature for the league of shadows is the live feedback the suits give them; it measures everything from blood pressure to brain waves.

"Your mission tonight is to kill this man" Lady Shiva said as she pulled up the picture of a dark middle aged man with yellow teeth and a big scar from his forehead to his chin "He's know as the Slaver. He's a human traffic expert with the capability to gather and transport any amount of people for right price, however he is about to make a deal with the authorities to avoid jail time by selling out his past clients. Within the next 48 hours the justice league will be handling his transport from his private villa in West Africa to America"

"The justice league is going to help keep this man out of jail after all he's done?" Garfield asked confused and slightly angry at the injustice

"There just fakes that are too weak to do what is necessary to get rid of scum like the Slaver, which is why we are doing it for them" Isaiah said bitterly to the green boy

"Yes, well your client is very specific and wishes for each one of you to stab him with these knifes before you kill him" Lady Shiva said as she gave them their daggers "apparently many of his victims were young boys and girls and the client want him to die by their hands. After he is dead take a photo of his body with all 4 daggers in him and then retrieve them so they can be sent to the client"

"Any questions?" sportsmaster asked the team in front of him, when no one spoke he continued "good, now make us proud, remember to have fun and take your time killing this bastard" and with that the team left the room leaving sportsmaster and Lady Shiva by themselves

"What a waste of time" Lady Shiva said as she began to leave the room

"What is?" sportsmaster asked

"Painting this mission in black and white for them, they should learn that this job isn't about good or evil it's just orders and missions. Some day they may have to take out a person who's done no more harm to the world then a child and it should be done with no questions or feelings"

"Yes that's true, but for now we just need them to become used to taking a person's life. The detachment will come with time"

* * *

><p>With the transportation provided by the shadows it took a little more than thirty minutes to reach their targets villa. The trip consisted of discussing several plans of action as well as reminding Garfield to use their code names once on the ground. The pilot spoke over the intercom informing them that there right over the base. Isaiah stood and opened the bay door.<p>

"Beast boy, you and Oracle take the west side. Tigress and I will take the East" Isaiah commanded before jumping out of the plane soon followed by the rest of his team

"BB where's you parachute?" Tigress yelled to the falling green boy

"Who needs a parachute when you have wings" he laughed back at her and shifted his form into a eagle before circling her twice and then heading to his drop point

"What a showoff" Barbra said then she pulled her own chute

Tigress pulled chute soon after and glided to her drop point with Isaiah close behind. Once they landed the pair began scoping out the small base, looking for any weaknesses and potential escape routes. There were several barracks for the Slaver's men to sleep and live but the majority of the land was occupied by a miniature mansion. Security was good but mostly consisted of armed guards to busy gossiping to each other to really notice them.

"Alright guys, sneak into the mansion while leaving our presents for the guards to play with later, remember don't be seen or our job will be that much harder and yes Beast boy I'm talking to you" Isaiah instructed them through their comlinks

It didn't take much effort at all to sneak into the mansion; the quality of guards was practically pathetic. Hotspot and Tigress entered through the kitchen while Beast boy and Oracle entered through the ballroom, once inside they were to take out any and all guards quietly without sounding the alarms. Tigress and Hotspot separated as they began to make their sweep of the building.

Tigress stop in her tracks as she came upon a pantry and the massive amount of food kept within _"What can I say I have a high metabolism" _a chill ran down her spine as a blurry image ofa boy appeared in her head

"Who's in there?" a shout from the other room brought her back to reality. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she did not notice the man entering the kitchen. Tigress slipped into the shadows sliding behind the guard, giving him a kick to the head instantly knocking him out. The man dropped to the floor with a muffled thump

"I saw that" Hotspot said from behind her causing her to jump

"Saw what?" she tried to play innocent

"You became distracted and let someone sneak up behind you" he said hiding the anger in his voice "you could of cost the whole mission with your recklessness"

"Sorry it won't happen again"

"Good, now let's hurry the target is right above us"

* * *

><p>Robin stood next to kid flash, who was practically vibrating with anticipation, as they waited for Batman to enter the briefing room and tell them what he had found. The rest of the team felt the same as kid flash only they weren't destroying the floor, and when Batman finally entered the team's emotions went wild as they bombarded him with questions.<p>

"Quiet!" It took only one word for the room to become absolutely still. The only one still able to talk was the boy wonder himself

"Do we know where Artemis is being held?" Robin asked trying not to sound desperate

"Unfortunately her location is still a mystery" with that their faces dropped

"Than what are we doing here? We should be chasing down sportsmaster and the shadows not wasting time in this mountain" kid flash yelled not caring it was the Batman to whom he spoke

"Were here because the team has a mission and if you don't let me finish speaking all of you will be in lock down for the rest of the year" Batman said with enough force to stop any more interruptions

He stood by the computer screen and brought up several pictures and maps "Alec Mess also known as the slaver will be surrendering to the league in exchange for no jail time"

"The Slaver why would we ever do that for a piece of…" "hmm" Connor was cut off by Kaldur

"Batman why would the league make such a deal" Zatanna finished Connor's question

"Because Alec was involved with securing all of the children the shadows have taken and is willing to provide us with a location in exchange for protection"

The energy in the room picked up instantly "that means we can find where Artemis was taken" Robin almost yelled with excitement

"Yes and the sooner I finish this briefing the faster all of you can leave" Batman tried to appear stoic about the whole situation but Robin knew his mentor enough to understand how excited he was about this and how much he wished Artemis would come home

* * *

><p>Tigress and Hotspot had arrived a few seconds before Oracle and Beast boy "Is the building clear of all other people?" Hotspot asked<p>

"Yep everyone except whose ever in this room" Oracle answered

"Good, now comes the fun part" Hotspot said as he was about to kick down the door

"Wait do you hear that? I don't think he's alone in there" Tigress said with her ear to the door "BB can you make sure?"

Beast boy quickly changed into a German shepherd and tilted his head to the side to hear better. A few seconds later he transformed back into a human shaking his head "ya there's definitely more people in that room and one smells really bad almost like they haven't showered in weeks"

Hotspot turned to Oracle "ok you're up smarty pants" she turns to the door, gabbing a small item from the belt around her waist

"What is that?" Tigress asked

"It's a fly on the wall video camera, I can remote control it so we can see and hear everything that goes on in the room" Oracle said smiling at the devise she made herself

"Isn't that a little cliché" Tigress responded bursting her bubble

"It does not matter, Oracle whenever you're ready" Hotspot said interrupting their conversation

Oracle set the small camera on the floor and activated it with the holocomputer attached to her arm. The fly like camera rose from the floor and flew under the door flying around until it landed on a wall allowing for most of the room to be seen.

_Inside the room their target sat behind a big wooden desk with his feet resting comfortably on the top completely oblivious to the assassins waiting outside. Four other people occupied the room, three were guards carrying machine guns and the last was a young woman in her twenties on the floor kneeling with her hands behind her head. The young woman appeared very dirty and tired almost like she's been living in a cage for a month with not much to eat._

"_Sir, this is all that's left of our last shipment. Should we find a buyer for her?" one of the guards said _

"_No, with the league coming to make a deal I can't afford to use any of my usual channels to sell this one off" the Slaver said while scratching his chin_

"_d does this mean y you'll let me go?" the young woman said quietly as though she was afraid to speak _

_The target laughed and soon his men laughed with him causing the young woman to nearly burst into tears but when he rose to his feet every one stopped laughing. He walked slowly to where she kneeled and grabbed her chin forcing her to look him in the eyes "No can do, you see I can't have any lose ends and well you're just another end that needs to be tied" at his words the fear in the woman's eyes grew _

_The Slaver walked to his desk and picked up a hand gun which he pointed at the woman's head "close your eyes sweet heart it will be over soon"_

Tigress stood up from where her team was watching the footage and kicked down the door surprising everyone inside. The men started shooting at her but she ducked out of the way drawing their fire towards the window and away from the door. Beast boy was the next in the room and took out the man closest to him by turning into a lion and clawing at the man's body. Oracle walked into the chaos with circular disks in hand throwing them at the nearest guard, the disks flew around his body before it released a strong electrical current. Hotspot in all the confusion snuck behind the last man and grabbed his neck sending a surge of flames to encase the man tuning him to nothing but ash in a few moments. With all the other threats taken care of Tigress easily used three of her arrows to trap their target to the wall by his cloths. She then reached into her belt and pulled out a trigger and pressed it, activating all of their _presents_ they left for the guards outside. Explosions erupted from all around the base causing a fiery glow to seep in through the windows "that should keep any of your remaining men busy"

"Please! Please don't kill me! I'll give you anything you want money, land, slaves anything!" Alec pleaded

"Do you think any of that really matters to us" Tigress said as she slowly approached him

"You deserve what's coming to you and more" Hotspot calmly stated as he raised his dagger and plunged it into the man's stomach causing him to scream in pain. The three other youths in the room stood there dazed at what he had just done "BB, Oracle your next"

Beast boy slowly walked to where their target was bound and pulled his dagger out he hesitated for a second but closed his eyes placing the knife right above the man's left hip making the man let out another desperate cry. Oracle was next standing next to Beast boy she quickly stabbed his right shoulder instantly letting go of the blade and bringing her shaking hands to her side. "Please! Stop I beg of you" the man continued to beg for his life

"The last spot is left for you Tigress, send it straight to his heart" Hotspot smiled pointing to his own heart as if to show her where it was

She slowly moved beside Hotspot grabbing her dagger and raising it to his heart. She threw her hand back and then thrust it forward but stopped right before she hit him "stop playing around Tigress the league could be coming soon" she did not even look at Hotspot but just stood there as if frozen in time "Tigress! Tigress! Artemis what's wrong with you?" Hotspot yelled

At the sound of her name she blinked and dropped the dagger "Some things wrong it doesn't feel right, this is not what's supposed to happen"

The team leader bent down and picked up the knife, thrusting it into her hand "this is exactly what's supposed to happen" and while still holding her hand on the dagger plunged it straight into his heart as their target cried out for the last time. Artemis tried to pull back her hand but Hotspot held it there letting the blood soak onto her fingers "see that wasn't so hard" when he finally let go of her hand she slowly brought it before her and stared at the blood on her fingers

"Ok Oracle take the picture so we can go home" Beast boy said breaking through the awkward silence

_Cough _"is any one there" _cough _"please help me" a small crumpled voice came from across the room and suddenly the young team remembers the woman who was captured by the Slaver. Instantly Artemis had found the young woman, she kneeled besides her placing her head on her knees. Artemis almost dropped her head when she saw all the blood the woman was losing.

"Tigress we need to go" Hotspot said coming up behind her

"No we can't leave her like this" Artemis yelled closing her eyes and suddenly seeing a vision of her mother lying lifeless on the floor in almost the same way as this woman

"There's nothing we can do for her but put her out of her misery" Hotspot said as he raised his hand with flames coming from it

"No!" she placed her hand over the woman's heart praying for some way to save her and suddenly she felt a tingling sensation in her hand which soon became pain. The pain only increased with every passing second, Artemis soon let go of the woman and clutched her sides Oracle was soon besides her asking what was wrong

"Look the woman's wounds… there gone" Beast boy said as he pointed at the now healed lady

The pain was becoming too intense for Artemis she grabbed onto her friend for support and placed the other on the wall and as soon as she did the wall was blasted away by the very hand she had placed on it. With the wall destroyed the pain was instantly gone and Artemis feeling relief fainted in Oracles arms.

"Come on we must leave" Hotspot said as he helped support some of Artemis' weight

"What about the woman?" Oracle questioned

"Her wounds are healed she can save herself, besides it's more important to get Tigress back to HQ after what she just did" their leader explained now having Artemis completely in his arms

"You're not going to tell the league that she didn't want to kill the target, are you?" Beast boy asked worriedly

"No, this strange ability or whatever it was that just happened might be the reason for her weird behavior. So there's no reason any more to be made at her" Beast boy relaxed at his words "but I know for sure they'll be interested in what she did"

**A/N: A little longer chapter because I was gone for an extra two days :) Florida was so much fun and then Nevada and the Grand Canyon was great too, but I did miss southern Californian weather. Thanks so much to greekfreak101, stevie4eva, PiotrMc, Guest, A2ID, I love you Roza, LizzieH22, alamodie, Believe-daydream-Fly529, and SuperGLEEK97 for taking the time and leaving awesome reviews**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters**

Even from the bio ship the team could easily see the damage done to the small base. A blazing fire seemed only minutes away from engulfing the whole complex, and with the lack of movement on the ground the young heroes could only assume that there were no survivors.

"What happened here" Miss Martian was the first to speak

"It looks like this place went to hell and back" Zatanna responded, leaning forward in her seat to get a better look at the damage below them

"Dam it" Kid Flash yelled, pounding his hands on the control panel in front of him "our first real lead to finding Artemis and it ends up being a dead end"

"Nothing is for certain until we investigate on the ground" Kaldur stood trying to give his friend hope that this trip would not be in vain

"We can't land not with the fire raging below, it's too hot for me and her" Miss Martian said rubbing the ships console as if to comfort it "it's difficult enough just to hover this close"

"Z can you conger up a dust storm to put out that fire?" Robin asked the raven haired girl behind him

"Just give me a second" the magician answered standing, then clasping her hand together in concentration "tsud mrots emoc dna tup siht erif tuo" several moments later a dust storm formed snuffing out the flames as it passed over the compound. Seconds after the storm passed the bio ship landed near the miniature mansion, the only building it seems the flames did the least amount of damage to

"_Miss M, Kid, Zatanna you three spread out and investigate the cause of that fire as well as search for survivors"_ Kaldur spoke through the mental link the team had already established _"Super boy, Robin and I will search the mansion for the target. Everyone be on your guard, the ones responsible for this mess may well still be in the area"_ the two groups split up and headed there separate ways

Robin's group quickly made it inside the once beautiful mansion and explored the first floor. They found several bodies of men who appeared to have once been guards, most looked to have been burned alive but were found in areas where the flames had yet to reach. The three quickly moved onto the next floor where they found the carnage left behind by the ones responsible for all these deaths.

Conner was the first to enter the room but quickly looked away from the gruesome scene in front of him; the room was rank with the smell of burnt flesh and blood. Robin and Kaldur walked in after him both equally disturbed as the kryptoian. Robin stepped forward taking the time to examine the whole room in case a clue could be found beneath all the blood and rubble. He looked to the first body that appeared to have been mauled by some sort of animal, the second that had no visible wounds except for some charring on the skin that would indicate being electrocuted, the third who like the many others down stairs was burnt alive by flames that seemed to manifest themselves out of thin air, and finally the target that would of helped them locate their missing archer. The way his body was displayed bothered the boy wonder the most especially the way it was suspended by arrows and stabbed in four different places, which clearly indicated this man was meant to suffer.

"_It appears that there were at least four different attackers each one taking down a person and all four involved in killing the Slaver" _Robin announced through the mental link _"any luck on your end KF" _

"_We discovered the fire was caused by several small explosive devises scattered throughout the compound and evidence that mast of the men here ran for the hills when the bombs went off"_ Kid Flash responded as he ran around the base a second time hoping to find any other clues but failing

"_Very well lets meet back at the bio ship, it seems there's nothing else to find…" _Kaldur's thoughts were cut off by super boy suddenly grabbing his arm

"_Do you hear that?" _the clone thought, looking towards the corner of the room where there is a gapping whole in the wall "_someone else is in here and they sound weak, it's coming from under that pile of rubble"_

"_What is it? Do you need us over there?" _Zatanna asked worriedly

"_No, but return to the ship and ready a bed, I believe this person will be needing medical attention" _the team's fearless leader instructed

Robin watched as the atlantian and kryptoian slowly removed the rubble of the crumbled wall and pulled out a young woman. He was about to approach the others when something reflecting on the opposite wall caught his eye. The boy wonder took a closer look and found a fly like devise just sitting there

"A camera disguised as a fly how cliché, but useful" Robin mumbled under his breath

"_Guys I found a small camera in the room, from the looks of it we can find out everything that happened in here once we get back to the cave" _Robin told the others while grabbing the small camera and turning it over in his hand

"_Good and perhaps we will learn more once this young woman awakes but that will also have to wait until we reach the cave" _Kaldur informed the team through the link "_Miss M contact the league and inform them of what we found while we head back to the ship"_

* * *

><p>Barbara and Garfield walked into their home base followed closely by Isaiah carrying Artemis. A medical team met them at the door ready to take the unconscious archer from Isaiah's hands. He placed her on the gurney and watched as she was wheeled away towards the med bay. They had informed their superiors of the strange event with the injured woman and the effect it had on their teammate, needless to say the shadows were very intrigued about this. Once Artemis was out of sight sportsmaster walked up to the team "You all did a magnificent job today, if you check your accounts the money has already been transferred, after your debriefing with Lady Shiva feel free to have the rest of the night off but come morning we still expect nothing but excellence with your training"<p>

"Thank you sir but what about Artemis, she healed that woman and then destroyed a wall. Where did that ability come from?" Isaiah asked speaking for the whole team

"Artemis has always had the potential to develop powers; it comes from her mother's side and it appears it's just now coming to the surface. However this is the reason all of you were gathered together in the same team, your potential for greatness." Sportsmaster answered "We will take care of Artemis so don't worry, oh and Garfield your new toy came in, why don't you take your team to play after you speak to Lady Shiva"

The green boy jumped for joy at this "all right I ordered it while on the plane, I can't believe it's here already" he continued to jump several more times before dragging Barbra and Isaiah out of the room

"Settle down Garf or you're going to wake up to a nasty surprise in the morning" Barbra said right before she was completely pulled out of the room leaving sportsmaster alone. The instant the doors shut behind the teen's sportsmaster took off towards the med bay where his daughter was being examined at that very moment

He came to the observation room and looked through the glass to see Artemis lying on a metal table being poked and prodded by many different machines and doctors. After waiting for two hours Dr. Hedrick comes to his side "It's quite amazing what she can do, after running several test and reviewing the report from her mission it appears she can take the pain from a person and transfer that into a destructive power, in the process healing that persons wounds" the doctor stated handing a file to the blond man "we'll have to run more test to find out how exactly this process works and it appears it will take some time before she can use this ability without hurting herself in the process, so I suggest taking her off of missions…" he was suddenly cut off by sportsmaster

"No"

"No? But sir if this gets out of control she could end up killing herself and…" the good doctor was once again cut off mid sentence but this time the blond man turned to look at him with a cold glare

"I said it before and I'll say it again we created them to be our loyal weapons, and if she dies well that just means she was a weak failure with no right to live in the first place" with that sportsmaster closed the file and headed for the exit, pausing and turning around before he closed the door "but be proud doctor, it appears all four finally manifested their powers. Isaiah with his fire, Garfield with his shape shifting, Artemis with her healing and Barbra with her technological genius, although the latter is a bit more unimpressive but we can still use her none the less"

Once alone the doctor threw down his clipboard in anger "I should of known what I was getting into with these monsters, but I needed the money and they were the only ones willing to fund my work, my science" he bent down to pick up the mess he created "I've tried to ignore the gray and black lines they were making me cross because to me my science is my life" he paused a thought coming into his head "but those kids are my science so there now my life as well" Dr. Hedrick stands holding his clipboard tightly "I have to do something because if those kids die there goes my life's work and I might as well be dead if that happens"

* * *

><p>When the team arrived at the cave they found Batman and Red Tornado waiting for them. The first one off the ship was Conner who was carrying the unconscious woman in his arms, without a word he headed towards the infirmary with Red Tornado following close behind. Kaldur walked to meet the dark knight standing in the hanger "apologies Batman, the mission was a failure our target was already dead before we arrived and the base nearly destroyed"<p>

Batman placed a hand on the young atlantian's shoulder "but you saved a woman's life and there is some value in that"

"Not only did we save a person's life we also brought back some video evidence to see what exactly happened in that room" Robin said appearing next to the dark night who seemed unsurprised by the sudden appearance "and since I was working on modifying this camera's connection while on the bio ship we can play the video right now without any problems"

Robin opened up a holographic screen connecting it to the small camera he had in his hand, instantly static appeared but moments later the room which held the woman and those four bodies became visible. The team watched silently as the man known as the Slaver looked to be about to kill the young woman they found until they heard the door slam open and a blond girl walked in the room. The person was immediately shot at but dodged towards the windows "freeze playback" Robin yelled "That's Artemis, she was there!" he said continuing to yell

Everyone in the room looked startled "What is she doing there? She's being held hostage by the shadows" Kid Flash question confused and border line angry

"Perhaps she escaped" Kaldur stated not really thinking about what he said

"Then why would she go there and not to us? If that's really Artemis than the shadows have done something to her" Zatanna stated worried that her best friend might be brainwashed

"The only way to know anything for certain is to continue watching, continue playback" Batman said in his emotionless voice

The team continued to watch as a green shape shifter entered the room followed by a red head Robin and Batman immediately recognized the girl as Barbra. The last to enter the room was a dark skinned boy who burnt the last guard to ash. They continued to watch in horror as one by one the four began to stab the man held to the wall by Artemis' arrows until it was her turn to take the man's life. They saw how she hesitated and dropped the knife and then gasped as the same boy who burnt a guard alive grabbed her hand and thrust it into the man's heart and held it there. "Freeze playback" this time it was Me'gan that stopped the video "look at that boy I knew I recognized him! Its Garfield Logan remember, when we battled Queen Bee we went to his animal preserve" the Martian looked between Robin and Kid Flash hoping they would also recognize him

"Let me check the facial recognition" Robin said typing away on his wrist computer "your right it is him, and it appears his moms car went over a waterfall two months ago his mother's body was found but it was presumed his body washed away in the current"

"Poor Garfield, what have the shadows done to him not only does he shape shift but he's killed someone" Me'gan said putting her head in her hands trying hard not to cry

"We'll save both of them Me'gan, I promise" Zatanna said placing her arms around the Martians shoulders trying to comforts her

"Perhaps it is time for everyone to get some rest" Kaldur spoke realizing that this day has been emotionally taxing for everyone

"The video is not done playing" the dark knight said never taking his eyes off the screen

"What else is there to learn from this, we already saw them kill everyone in the room" Kid Flash said finding it hard to get a grip on his emotions

"Wait KF, there no hole in the wall yet and the woman we saved is still in the room but she looks to be in worse condition then when we found her" Robin said pointing to the spot on the screen where the woman was and the hole should be "continue playback"

They continued watching the video play out before them, seeing how Artemis ran to the woman's aid and how the young man with the ability to start fires offered to put her out of her misery. The most shocking thing happened next though, Artemis placed her hand of the woman and moments later started to clutch her sides the team watched in horror at the obvious pain their archer was in but then became stunned in silence as she blew a hole in the wall just by touching it. Exclamations were heard all around the room, every person was shocked and horrified to see that happen even Batman.

Robin was the only one who stood motionless staring at the screen as if hopping what he saw was only an illusion. But he knew it wasn't, he knew that his friend, his sister was being hurt, he clenched his fists and mumbled in anger "Artemis, what in the hell have they done to you!"

**A/N: I hope I was able to display the emotions properly in this chapter because they were supposed to be really intense :) oh and to answer some questions yes Artemis does have a power now, but that was the whole point of the experiments so it's not like it just appeared out of nowhere with no reason**. **As always my thanks goes out to Theforgottenangel8, SuperGLEEK97, Whitewolfmoon, princess of unicorns, PiotrMc, N0601859, A2ID, and Summer Frost 13 for** **leaving such awesome reviews :) **


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I do not own young justice or any of its characters**

It had been over two hours since the team watched the video of their archer working for the enemy and displaying abilities she has never had before. The team had all went their different ways to cope with this news, Kaldur went swimming, Me'gan went to the kitchen, Conner took Wolf for a walk, Zatanna went to see the woman they brought back from the mission and Wally just disappeared.

Robin on the other hand was having the hardest time of all doing any one thing for long. He first went to his room to look over the evidence, he tried to find out who made the fly like camera but that offered no leads. He then searched every data base he could think of that could provide him with any insight as to how Artemis may have developed those powers but that only lead him to one person, Dr. Hedrick, and the league already had every available resource looking for him. At that moment he was in the training room using his acrobatic skills to swing from one obstacle to the other while simultaneously throwing birdarangs at various targets.

"Robin?" said a voice from a few feet away

The introduction of this voice surprised the acrobat to such an extent that he hesitated in mid air causing him to fumble to the floor. Zatanna ran to where the boy wonder had fallen and tried to help him up but he merely shrugged her away "is everything ok? I've never seen you surprised by anything before" she spoke worriedly

"I just got caught up in my training, it was nothing" Robin replied getting up while rotating the shoulder he fell on. He walked to the corner where he had placed his bag earlier and grabbed a bottle of water which he drained in seconds. After slinging his bag over his arm and hanging a towel around his neck he began to leave the room

"It's not nothing when you've never done it before" Zatanna said getting in front of him blocking his exit

"Z I'm not in the mood for games right now ok" Robin answered back while trying to move around the young magician

"This is not a game Robin, I'm being serious, ever since Artemis has disappeared you've been moody and off your game" Zatanna said placing her hands on her sides while sticking out her hip much like the way Artemis would do "we all miss her and we'll get her back I promise but it won't help anyone with the way your acting"

"You just don't understand what it's like to lose someone!" Robin yelled at the girl leaving her momentarily stunned before she shot right back at him

"What don't I understand! If you don't remember my dad is gone because some lord of order decided he needs his body and don't act like you're the only one who misses her because your wrong" when she was done speaking she was right in his face

Robin took a deep breath and slowly let it out "I'm sorry that's not what I meant it's just that…" he trailed off

"Just what?"

"She my sister" Robin whispered looking into Zatanna eyes as he said this and even under the mask she could see the pain in them

"Sister" she repeated surprise lacing her voice "But I thought… the Wayne's… you can't mean you're…then Batman is…"

"Ya I am and he is too" he answered with a sad smile taking his eyes off of her and looking intensely at the floor

Zatanna slowly took her hands and placed them at the corners of the young boy's mask; he filched when he felt her touch but did not attempt to stop her. She slowly removed the mask from his face moving closer as if to see better while she looked into the bluest eyes she had ever seen. The eyes of one Dick Grayson the adopted brother of Artemis Crock "Oh my god Robin" the magician threw her arms around his neck "I'm so sorry but why didn't either of you tell us"

"Uh did you forget that Batman is the most paranoid person on the planet, he didn't even tell Artemis at first" the boy wonder explained almost jokingly as they separated

"Then why are you telling me now?" she asked confused then quickly adding "not that I'm ungrateful that you're trusting me but…"

"It's one thing to be in pain but to have to hide it the entire time to act like she was only a teammate and not a member of my family and then have to watch a video of her working for the Shadows where they obviously did something terrible to her to give her powers" he said quickly and all in one breath which greatly impressed the raven haired girl but also made her realize how much this really affected him "I just couldn't take it, I needed to talk to someone Z and there's no one else out side of my family that I trust more than you"

Her heart melted at that and as she looked into his eyes once again she didn't even realize how close they were to each other until she felt his lips on hers. It was a short kiss which was over as fast as it began but still left the two teens blushing profoundly. As if to distract themselves from that moment they quickly took a step back, Zatanna soon began to speak "the woman we brought back from our last mission finally woke up"

"Really, did she have any information that could help?" Robin asked instantly composing himself

"I believe so, but she was really scared when she woke up and only spoke to black canary, she said that the blond archer healed her and that when the pain was leaving her body she saw flashes almost like a memory but it wasn't hers" Zatanna said trying her best to explain what the woman was talking about

"Memories were they Artemis'?" Robin asked cutting her off before she could speak again

"Ya, well black canary thinks so…" he once again interrupted her

"Well what was it what did she see… mgmff" Zatanna had cast a spell to gag the poor bird

"If you stop interrupting me I can tell you what she saw ok and I'll remove the gag but only if you promise to let me speak" Robin gave a face that clearly showed he was irritated but nodded his head

"eerf mih. Ok so where was I? Oh ya she said she saw a warehouse and that Artemis and a bunch of children were living there being forced to train and fight. She could not tell where it was but she was able to draw the logo that was on the side of the building" Zatanna finished explaining handing the boy wonder the picture the woman drew

"I've never seen this logo before at least now we have something to work from" Robin said as he looked up from the picture, a genuine smile on his face. He ran out of the room not before yelling back "thanks Z, you're the best!"

* * *

><p>Artemis had woken up only a few hours ago with several doctors hovering around her taking test and asking questions. This soon began to annoy the blonde which led her to kicking an unsuspecting man in the family jewels, however her father walked into the room and ordered she "cooperate or else". Artemis knew better than to test her father and find out what the <em>or else <em>meant, so she suffered through the rest of the exam mumbling creative curses at each new test administered. Throughout the exams she kept replaying the scene in her mind where she healed that woman and blew down a wall, she couldn't believe that any of it happened at all.

The final test was to try and recreate what happened, much to her displeasure she had no choice in this matter either, they had brought in three workers from around the base each possessing a minor wound. Artemis wouldn't put it past the shadows to have hurt these men just to test out this new ability of hers.

The first man she was to practice on, Artemis noticed as he walked up, had a broken arm and two black eyes. He stopped a foot away from her and just stood there waiting for her to make the first move. With a sigh she stood from the cold metal table she had been sitting on and placed a hand on the man's arm. For several seconds nothing happened and one of the doctors spoke aloud "There is no change in breathing rate, blood pressure or brain waves. There are no physical or emotional reactions appearing at this time"

Oh ya, Artemis had almost forgotten they had hooked probes on her to measure any changes within her body.

"Perhaps there is no reaction because she feels nothing for this man" internally Artemis agrees with the doctors statement, this man didn't matter to her so why would she even try to help him "than he is of no further use, kill him" the doctor finished and the man's eyes widened in fear

"You can't do that!"Artemis protested

"We can and will, not everything is fair and pretty, reality is cold and harsh" the doctor said nodding his head to a security guard in the room who raised his gun and pointed it at the man

"Wait I'll try again" Artemis said and hurriedly placed her hand on the man's broken arm. Again nothing happen but she wouldn't give up something in her kept screaming to help this man, that a hero would never leave someone in pain if they could help it.

"_Hero? _Where did that come from?"she thought but before she could question that thought any further her arm started to hurt and she retracted it quickly. The pain stayed within her for several moments but then she remembered what happened to the wall and she outstretched her arm and aimed it at the doctor who had ordered to kill the man. A burst of energy left her palm and hit the doctor sending him to his knees but he was only momentarily stunned "next time point your arm in another direction" he mumbled before ushering the second test subject in front of her.

This one only had a broken thumb and what looked to be a bad back. They were given the same threat as before so Artemis was determined to find a sold way to activate this ability. She placed her hand on this man's thumb and thought about the word hero but this time nothing worked. She heard the clicking of a gun and tried again at this moment she realized it wasn't the word that caused the reaction but a feeling associated with it, a feeling she did not quite understand but knew it was there none the less.

The third man was brought in front of her and this time she easily activated her power, however she tried something different, instead of releasing the pain in a blast of energy she held it in. This caused the room to spin on her and she became light headed for a few moments but it soon subsided along with the pain she took from the third man.

"Interesting" the doctor noted "not only can you absorb and expel pain in an energy form but you can also dissipate it within your body" at this statement several doctors wrote down on their clipboards what Artemis assumed to be random data and numbers from the monitors

"Alright Artemis, you are excused, you may retire to your quarters for the night" as soon as the words left the doctors mouth she was out the door not willing to stay in that room a second longer

Artemis was tired and headed straight to her room. She was not willing to stop for anything, even a bite to eat which her stomach was currently begging her to do, she was determined to jump in bed and get as much sleep as possible before morning training began. Nothing was going to delay her, nothing but her sister?

Artemis was surprised to see her sister leaning against her door playing with one of her sai by twirling and throwing it around like it was a child's toy "Jade? What are you doing here? I thought you hated coming to this base because dad was here" she asked her sister causing her to stop playing and casually look up

"I think a better question little sis is what are _you _doing here?" Jade said giving her sister a look that she couldn't quite identify

"What do you mean that's my room" Artemis answered confused causing Jade to roll her eyes

"I mean why are you here? Doing this, living this life, is this really what you want to be doing? Are you happy?" Jade said as she walked closer to Artemis with every word until they were face to face

This caught Artemis off guard, she was not expecting Jade to ask her that "I… I don't know what…" she was lost for words and this gave Jade one her signature Cheshire smiles

"Don't question other peoples motives when you don't even know your own" and with that she was gone leaving Artemis alone in an empty hallway to think about what her sister just said

* * *

><p>Dr. Hedrick left the base earlier that day as he usually did on one of the rare days he had off. He planned to spend it like he normally would by walking to his favorite restaurant and ordering whatever the waiter recommended. He knew that he was being followed, he always was, but this time it was different. He knew that the tail he had today were rookies, children from his experiments, a young team that's first mission was to watch him. He was going to use this chance to escape the control of the shadows and try to save his life's work anyway he can.<p>

During the middle of his dinner he stood and headed to the bathroom leaving behind his coat as if he were going to come back for it. Seconds later the bathroom exploded in a frenzy of flames and smoke causing panic to spread across the restaurant as staff and patrons alike tried to escape the heat. Unbeknown to his followers the doctor had fled the building running down the dark streets and disappearing into the crowds.

**A/N: Oh wow can you believe it 100 reviews :) thanks so much guys this really means a lot that people like my story :) so I hope you all liked this chapter and didn't think it was totally random. My thanks goes out to N0601859, SuperGLEEK97, Guest, Nightwing Master of the Aster, olympic girl 21, and A2ID for leaving such awesome reviews :) **


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters **

_Bzzz Bzzz Bzzz_

_Artemis turned over in her bed to turn off the alarm; she lazily lifted her hand and pressed the off button without looking. She pulled the covers over her head wishing for a few more minutes before she'd have to get up just to make sure her teammates wouldn't eat all her food, again. _

"_Artemis! Get up or you'll be late for school!" a voice yells from a different room_

_Artemis jumps up from the sound of this voice and for the first time takes in her surroundings. The room was small with one window and a poster of Alice in Wonderland hanging on the wall opposite of her, above the matching bed that used to belong to her sister. This was the room that used to belong to her before her mother died, before her dad, sister and herself left Gotham to live at the Shadow's base._

"_Artemis!" the voice yells again shocking the archer out of her stupor and causing her to run towards the kitchen almost slamming into her closed bedroom door in her haste. As she turns the corner she stops dead in her tacks to stunned to move or even breath. There in the kitchen at the stove was her mother in a wheelchair she was cooking eggs and bacon like it was a normal thing to do, which in their family it wasn't but that wasn't the point. Paula Crock, her mother, was alive, in a wheelchair but alive._

"_Mom" Artemis was able to whisper as she took a shaky step forward. Even with that almost inaudible tone the Asian woman at the stove was able to hear her daughters whisper and turned to see the girl she had called for breakfast almost in tears._

"Con gái_! What's wrong?" Paula asked worriedly as she wheeled herself to her distraught daughter_

"_Mom you're alive!" Artemis yelled as she wrapped her arms around her mother refusing to let go "But Batman, he killed you I saw it!" she cried into her mother's shoulder_

"Sẽ ổn thôi, _it was just a bad dream Artemis, I'm fine" the older woman whispered in her ear while gently rubbing her daughter's head to calm her down "and no matter what stories your father would tell you when you were young the Batman would never kill anyone, in fact I will never be able to repay him for the opportunities he's given you"_

"_What Opportunities?" Artemis asked reluctantly pulling herself away from her mother's embrace "What are you talking about, mom?"_

"_Artemis, are you ok? Do you not remember everything he and the league have done for us?" Paula asked while placing a hand on Artemis' forehead to check if she had a fever. The archer pulled back after feeling the back of Paula's hand on her head and rose to her feet, in an instant the scenery around her changed to that of a crowded street in Gotham. She stood there frozen out of time as she observed the events in front of her unfold. She watched with a heavy heart as a version of herself pushed her mother down the sidewalk talking as if it was just another boring day, but the real Artemis knew something terrible was going to happen. Her breathing rate increased as she saw a car screech around the corner and swerve down the road where her copy and mother where standing, she watched in slow motion as her mother jumped in front of her taking the lethal bullets in her place. _

_"Mom! Mom! Please stay with me! Mom!"_ _at the screams of her copy pleading for Paula to stay awake Artemis dropped to her knees and covered her ears desperately trying to forget what she just saw_

_"I am so proud of you, of what you do and hero you've become" Artemis knows she shouldn't have been able to her mother's words over the screaming and chaos but she did, she heard them loud and clear_

_With her heart still racing from the scene she was just forced to witness Artemis' surroundings changed once again but this time she was standing on a roof top near an ally, that when she looked over the edge was able to see four bodies strung up like meat, she turned to see her sister and a blurry shadow of a young boy she knew to be a friend._

_She took a step forward to get a better look at the boy but stopped dead in her tracks as her sister spoke "the people that were killed were in the way of their future plans even mom" Artemis looked directly at her sister as she continued to speak "and __**he**__ is one of the people in charge of running the operation" Artemis' heart dropped, she knew what Jade meant, it was sportsmaster that ordered her mother to be killed_

"Ahhh" Artemis yelled as she woke up in a cold sweat. She grabbed her at her heart as if manually trying to slow down its beating. It took her a few moments to calm down enough for her to recognize her surroundings to see she was back in her room at the Shadow's base "Just a bad dream" she said as she placed both her hands on her face trying to wake up and distance herself as much as possible from that horrible dream "stupid Jade, ever since she asked me that dumb question about motives two days ago my mind won't seem to let it go and now it's causing me to have nightmares" she mumbled angrily

Artemis looked down at the clock on her bedside table and realized she had woken up 45 minutes before her alarm should wake her up "It's not like I'll be able to sleep anymore after that dream, might as well get some early training in" she said to herself as she changed into her workout cloths

It wasn't long before the empty training room began to appear like a war zone, the angry archer had taken out much of her frustration caused by her nightmare onto her robotic opponents programmed to use deadly force.

"So this is where you where?" Artemis looked up to see Garfield and Barbra standing by the gym's entrance

"Ya we've been looking everywhere for you. We looked in your room, in the mess hall, under your bed, in your closet…" the green boy said counting on his fingers before he was interrupted

"Why would you look under my bed" Artemis asked with an amused look on her face

"I think the better question is why does this place look like World War III?" Barbra said before Garfield could answer "wait never mind, we have an urgent mission, sportsmaster wants us in the briefing room now"

* * *

><p>Bruce slowly walked down the stairs to the Batcave, he paused for a moment when he noticed lights and noise coming from the caves holographic training program 'Dick is down here' Bruce thought quickly before he continued the rest of the way down.<p>

Dick was currently on level 36 of the training program, this level included such villains as Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy and also happened to be one of Artemis' favorites. The last villain fell causing the program to momentarily pause before it lit up once again announcing a new high score "you know Artemis won't be very happy when she finds out you beat her top score" Bruce spoke out loud alerting the young acrobat to his presence

"Really? I think she'll enjoy the challenge of beating it again" Dick laughed grabbing a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead

"You're probably right about that" Bruce said walking towards the monitor which was currently scanning every database in the world "So this is the reason you're up so early"

"Ya that woman we saved from Africa was able to draw a logo she got from Artemis' memory when she healed her, it could lead us straight to the Shadows" Dick said as he walked next to Bruce and sat in the chair next to the monitor "and I decided to kill some time training while I waited for the results"

Bruce sighed and sat in a chair opposite from the young acrobat "Dick I know this has been a really hard time for you with Artemis and Barbra being taken, not to mention working against us…"

"They are not working against us, Bruce, they've been brain washed and who knows what else has been done to them especially Artemis who I guess now has powers!" the boy wonder yells jumping to his feet as he attempts to defend his friend's honor

"That's not what I meant, Dick, that's not what I meant at all" Bruce continued with genuine sorrow in his eyes "It's just I know none of this has been easy for you and I haven't been there either, I'm sorry"

At this Dick visibly relaxed and slumped back down into the chair leaning forwards to grab Bruce's hand "I know you've been busy trying to find them too, Alfred said you've been getting less sleep than usual and you didn't get much to begin with"

They both sat there in comfortable silence for several moments neither one really wanting to break the moment until the boy wonder remembered he had yet to tell Bruce that Zatanna Knows there secret "um Bruce" he began slowly, unsure at how his mentor would take the news

"Yes Dick" Bruce asked sitting up straight and looking his son in the eyes

"Well um I don't know how to say this so I'm just going to blurt it out… Zatanna knows that I'm Robin and by extension found out that your batman" he said quickly afraid that Bruce will blow up any moment

"I already Know" was his only reply

"No, it just happened so suddenly I was upset over Artemis being controlled to do the shadows dirty work and… What?" he had started to explain himself the instant Bruce finished his sentence that it took him several seconds to process what he had actually said

"I said I already know and it's alright" Dick walked up to Bruce and poked him in the cheek and then lifted up his eyelid "What are you doing?" the dark night asked being very patient with his sons antics

"I'm checking if you're a robot because the real Batman wouldn't take news like that this well" he said as took a step back to avoid the hand that's waving him away

"I've known for quite awhile that you like Zatanna and it's only reasonable that during this difficult time you would look to confide in someone you trust and with Wally taking this just as bad as us Zatanna was the only other choice"

"I still can't believe your taking this so well" Dick said is amazement

"Well Alfred had a lot to do with that, he's always been pretty good at knowing just what to say" Bruce said remembering how the butler had stopped him from storming down to the cave and yelling at his protégé for revealing such important information "just be sure not to do it again ok, the more people who know the more dangerous it becomes for them as well as for us"

"I promise she'll be the only one" Dick responded grinning from ear to ear

Suddenly an alarm coming from the monitor started to go off lighting up the cave in a soft red glow the duo ran towards the screen "Did we find out find out which company the logo belongs to?" Dick asked eagerly

"Yes it seems we did, but more importantly we found the location of Dr. Hedrick" Bruce said never taking his eyes off the monitor "head to the cave and gather the team"

Dick beamed as he realized the league will be letting the team handle this, he ran to change while mentally checking off which of his teammates were available to go on this mission. Zatanna, Kaldur, Connor, and Wolf were currently working on another mission for Batman so that left Me'gan, Wally and himself for this one 'where getting close Artemis, Barbra just hold on a little longer' and with that final thought he ran through the zeta tubes heading for Mt. Justice

* * *

><p>Artemis, Barbra, and Garfield entered the briefing room at the same time and they were met with the irritated face of sportsmaster "What took you guys so long" Isaiah asked from his spot by the holographic computer<p>

"Never mind that right now, we have important business to attend to, we have a traitor within the shadows" sportsmaster said as he pulled up a map and a picture of Dr. Hedrick on the computer "this man has stolen top secret information but more importantly is responsible for illegal experimentation that has been conducted on hundreds of children"

"How could someone do that to kids" Garfield asked interrupting sportsmaster and receiving a glare in return "sorry continue" the green boy said sheepishly

"Your mission is to retrieve or eliminate. Your first priority is to secure him if possible bring him back alive to the shadows so we can deal with him properly, however, if retrieval is impossible he must be eliminated before he can spread any of the sensitive information he has stolen"

"Sir how was it that Dr. Hedrick even escaped? Even if he made it off base and temporarily eluded his pursers he would not have been able to stay hidden for long" Isaiah asked as he stepped forward to grab the mission file from sportsmaster

"We believed he had help, although we are unsure who has helped him at the moment, but we are hoping to find out if he's brought back alive"

* * *

><p>Dr. Hedrick looked out of the small cabin window still in disbelief that he had made it to the Grand Canyon in one piece "I wonder how long I will be able to stay in this small secluded cabin in the middle of a national park before the shadows find me?" he questioned out loud to himself "if it wasn't for that woman who helped me travel across the country and gave me the location for this hideout I might have been already dead".<p>

He thought back to the day before when he was hiding under a bridge not far from the shadow's base "do you really think hiding under a bridge will save you from the shadows" a female voice laughed from above "here if you want to live follow these direction to the letter and you may survive to see your next birthday" the female voice said as she tossed down a bundle with a plane ticket and a map to his current hideout. The only identifying feature he was able it make out of the woman was a mask with a big almost scary grin that stretched from ear to ear.

"I wonder why this dusty old cabin is here anyway and it seems to be fully stocked as if ready to take in several people for an extended time" he said as he looked through the cupboards but stopped instantly when he found an item almost as scary as a bomb. He picked it up gently as his blood froze from realization of what this cabin was "this is a JUSTICE LEAGUE safe house!" he yelled but then ran to the window as thought he heard something outside, he slowly crept his head around the curtain as panic rose inside of him "Oh god how did they find me already!" he whispered, they were there, he knew they had found him

**A/N: It's my Birthday! lol this is my backwards birthday gift to all of you :) I stayed up late past midnight to finish this on my b-day because I'll be at a walk for brain cancer all day for my future sister-in-law, I hope you all like it. Updates from now on will most likely happen around the weekends again because school is in full swing and that has to come first. Like always my thanks goes out to olympic girl 21, alamodie, SaraL97, Guest, and A2ID for leaving awesome reviews**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters**

Robin, Kid Flash, and Miss Martian sat in silence as they approached the Justice League safe house located in the Grand Canyon National park. The tension in the ship was almost unbearable, each person stuck in their thoughts until one broke the silence "for a doctor this Hedrick guy is pretty dumb" Kid Flash said aloud

"Why would you say that?" Miss Martian questioned

"Because who in their right mind would chose a Justice League safe house when the league is trying to find them?" Kid Flash answered sarcastically, trying hard to control his anxiousness because he knew if they caught this guy he could lead them straight back to Artemis

"It's not a coincidence, either he wants to be found or someone wants us to find him, so keep your guard up because this very well could be a trap" Robin spoke up turning in his chair to face his companions

"We'll be arriving at our destination in two minutes" Miss Martian said while establishing the mental link "setting the ship to autopilot"

"_Good"_ Robin thought speaking through the link "_KF stay on a wide perimeter while Miss M and I try and flush him out through the back_"

"_Roger that" _Kid Flash answered back

Robin was the first off the ship by jumping through a small opening in the floor Miss Martian had created. He was soon followed by Kid Flash who quickly disappeared into a red and yellow blur and Miss Martian who floated down and hovered next to him.

Robin stayed in the shadows swiftly moving closer to the house, he thought he saw a man's face in the window but only for a second "_Rob he's running out the back door" _Kid Flash yelled through the link

Kid Flash ran up to the side of the doctor and tripped him sending him hurtling towards the ground and landing hard on some bushes. Before the good doctor could tell what had hit him Robin had thrown a devise that split into three balls attached to rope that wrapped around him making the doctor unable to move from his spot. Moments later Robin and Miss Martian reached the area where Hedrick lay and came to rest besides Kid Flash "KF you need to be more careful, what if he wanted you to chase him, you should have waited" Robin said to his best friend firmly but not in anger

"I had him covered; there were no traps and what if he had gotten away if I had waited" the red head said in his own defense

"That's not what matters now" Miss Martian said stepping between the two "we have the doctor so let's just get him back to the mountain for questioning" at this the green girl levitated the disgruntled doctor off the ground and started walking him towards the ship

"Just get me out of here! If the Shadows find me they'll kill me or worse they won't kill me and have me tortured for the rest of my life" Hedrick yelled frantically while struggling to move in the air

"Why would the Shadows want…" Kid Flash was interrupted by intense heat and Miss Martian's scream. He looked up a small slope and saw a dark skinned teen standing with flames dancing down both of his arms and next to this teen stood three others, but most importantly Artemis was there only a few feet away.

"It's none of your Business why we want him, so give him back or else you're in for a world of pain" the boy that KF now recognized from the fly on the wall video as Hot Spot said before sending a wave of flames above their heads. Miss Martian who had dropped the doctor in the first attack now fell to her knees in the intense heat of the second.

"_I'll lead fire boy away from here, can you and Miss M handle the others" _Robin spoke hurriedly through the mental link

"_Just leave her to us" _KF replied only thinking about how Artemis was right in front of him

Robin threw several ice pellets at Hot Spot temporarily freezing him to the ground, Hot Spot's teammates quickly jumped into action and headed straight for Hedrick. Robin using this distraction leaps towards the fiery boy who had just freed himself and punched him square in the face sending him rolling down the other side of the slope. In rage Hot Spot sprang to his feet and looked for the young acrobat only to see him running in the opposite direction of the rest of his team.

The moment Robin disappeared and Artemis started running towards him was the slowest moment in Wally's life. It seemed to him no matter how fast he ran it still took too long to get to her. Kid Flash ran straight at Tigress tackling her to the ground and pinning her arms at her side "Artemis! Artemis! Is it really you! Artemis please say you remember me!" he yelled at the blonde girl

She was momentarily stunned at the pleading in his voice and the fact he knew her name but she instantly regained her composer and kicked Kid Flash off of her yelling "get off of me creep!" she quickly jumped off the ground kicking the fasted boy alive in the head before he could get to his feet. She was about to kick him again but hesitated when she looked into his green eyes, they seemed so familiar. That moment's hesitation was all Kid Flash needed to once again grab onto the blond archer and trap her in his inescapable grip.

"Artemis please listen to me! You're not one of them! You're a member of our team, you belong with us" Kid Flash said trying his hardest to convince his old teammate of the truth "Artemis please come home"

"Aww isn't that sweet" Oracle said in a mocking tone as she threw two electric disks at him "but sorry to break it to you banana boy but girls don't like clingy guys" the disks hit their mark head on sending a shock throughout Kid Flash's system. This caused him to release Tigress, who stumbled back a few feet.

Kid Flash took a defensive position quickly looking between Tigress and Oracle, but curiosity got the better of him "why banana boy?" he asked oracle

She raised an eyebrow wondering why it even mattered before answering "what else should I call a love sick puppy running around in a yellow suit?"

"Hey there's red too you know" he replies back instantly causing the other girl to smirk

"It's funny how you didn't deny being a love sick puppy" the red headed girl laughed causing Kid Flash to blush

"Oracle grow up" Tigress spoke up irritated shifting her weight to one side "the last thing I need is some wannabe hero stocking me"

"Tigress are you there?" Hot Spot asked through the communicator

"Yeah what do you need?" she quickly answered eying the speedster to see if he'd move

"If things are stable on your end come over here, I have a present for you" he said with merriment in his voice which for some reason sent a chill down her spine

Tigress looked over to see beast boy attacking a martain who clearly refuses to fight back and then looked back to the red headed speedster in front of her "ya they can handle it, I'll be there soon"

"Oracle take care of this punk, I have something to check out" Tigress said to her teammate before she turned around and left

Kid Flash tried to run after her but stopped when three daggers appeared in the ground before him "sorry lover boy but I'm going to be your dance partner right now"

* * *

><p>Tigress quickly reaches the area where Hot Spot was waiting but stopped to take in the scene she saw before her.<p>

Hot Spot stood several feet from the canyon cliff proudly looking down on a beaten boy wonder that was several inches from the ledge. The area around them was black with scorch marks with some plants still smoking and the smell of burning earth and cloth was strong. The acrobat himself looked almost pitiful standing on one knee clutching a severely injured and burnt arm. The majority of his clothes were burnt, if any random person were to see him they would guess he had just ran a marathon through a burning building, it was easy to see the burns under the ripped areas of his costume.

"What happened here?" Tigress asked as she walked up to Hot Spot

"What do you mean 'what happened here' I merely took down a little bird" the dark skinned teen said smiling from ear to ear

"Ya but **many **people have tried to get him before, what made you different?" Tigress wondered as a mild pain shot through her chest as she looked at the glaring boy

"Well maybe I'm just better than them, plus I knew to use his greatest weakness against him… his compassion, which he has even for his enemies" he explained to his teammate

"So you tricked him into saving you just so you could get some cheap shots in"

* * *

><p>"Garfield stop this!" Miss Martian yelled at the green tiger trying to pounce on her as she pushed it away with her mind. By the time the tiger had landed it had turned back into a green boy.<p>

"Don't call me that! Scum like you can't call me that!" he yelled as he transformed into a bear and charged the alien girl again

Miss Martian quickly dodged the oncoming attack and landed safely several feet away "you're confused, the shadows experimented on you they messed with your mind, you know me I've been to the animal preserve in Africa." the martain pleaded sending mental images to the boy's head "Remember my name's Me'gan I'm a big fan of your mother's old sitcom _Hello Megan, _I even gave you a blood transfusion when you were hurt"

"Lies! Stop telling all these lies! My mother died years ago because the league was making profits by leaving murderers on the street" Beast boy yelled this time turning into a massive ape

"Garfield that's not what happened, you and your mother were run off the road, the car ended up in a river you survived but your mother, she was murdered by the Shadows. They're the ones responsible for her death" Miss Martain spoke as she levitated just out of reach of the angry primate

Beast boy reverted back into his human form; he stood there looking straight ahead as if trying to focus on what he believed to be the truth. The young alien floated down a few feet in front of him trying to resist the urge to run and hug the confused boy. Tears started to escape from his eyes "Please. Please stop it. I can't take your lies any longer" screaming the last few words as he began to charge at the martian in the form of a green elephant

This time the green girl did not try to dodge the attack and let herself be knocked aside by the trunk of the elephant. She stood and calmly faced the distraught boy who once again charged straight for her, when he was within striking distance he leaned back on his hind legs ready to stomp on the young girl in front of him, looking straight into his green eyes Miss Martain spoke softly "is this what your mother would have wanted?"

Beast boy instantly stopped at her words "is this how she would have wanted you to live your life" sensing his defenses crumbling Miss Martain pushed her memories of the time she had spent with him and his mother into his mind.

He morphed back into a human and stood with his head hung low as unstopped tears poured down his face "MOM!" he cried "MOM! I don't understand, nothing is making any sense!" he continued to scream which caught the attention of Oracle and Kid Flash. He fell to his knees and Miss Martain quickly ran to his side "please make the pain go away" he whispered through his sobs before he blacked out and landed in her arms.

"BB!" Oracle yelled running towards her fallen comrade only to be pushed back by Kid Flash

"Sorry but your my dance partner right now"

* * *

><p>"It doesn't matter how I beat him but only that did" Hot Spot said getting irritated at how Tigress was reacting to his victory "I could have just killed him myself but I called you because Batman killed your mother, what better revenge is there then killing his kid"<p>

She turned towards the injured boy "kill him?" she whispered

"If you don't do it soon then I will" Hot Spot said darkly, lighting up his hands in bright flames

Hot Spot watch Tigress hesitate for a second but then she slowly started walking towards the beaten acrobat "Artemis, you don't have to be like them, your mother worked hard to keep you on the right track" the boy wonder said through gritted teeth caused by his injuries

Tigress had paused when the young boy had said her name but continued walking again when he talked about her mother "My mom was killed by Batman, he threw her off a building like she was nothing but garbage, I've dreamed about doing the same to him one day" Tigress finished speaking as she came to stand in front of Robin

Hot Spot watched as Tigress pulled the acrobat to his feet holding him by his arms which she pinned to his sides. She seemed to hesitate for a few seconds, he wondered if she was going to chicken out but suddenly she threw her arms out and sent the boy wonder over the edge of the canyon.

"Wow I'm impressed" Hot Spot said to her as she walked away from the cliff "for a second I thought you'd make me kill him" Tigress didn't answer, she merely walked past him deep in her own thoughts

"Tigress, Hot Spot" Oracles frantic voice came though over their radio

"Oracle what's wrong?" Tigress quickly responded

"It's BB they got him… that alien girl she did something to him, they took him on their ship" Oracle said trying to regain her breath

"What about the target did you eliminate him?" Hot Spot spoke up

"No… it took all I had to get away" Oracle said wearily knowing that failure in the league of shadows is a serious affair

"Alright we'll meet up and head to base, BB will just have to wait for us to get him" Tigress spoke up before Hot Spot could lash out at Oracle for letting the target get away

"He's probably in the safest position right now anyway" she whispered to herself

**A/N: Wow a week late hehe, but at least it's here now :) I really can't wait for next week; finally a new episode of Young Justice and this one seems to be about Roy. Thanks so much to A2ID, princess of unicorns, alamodie, Liz, and Nessa671 for reviewing :) and everyone else who silently read this **


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters**

The trip back to HQ was spent in silence, mostly because it was Beast Boy who would usually start the conversations by saying a lame joke or simply playing around. Hot Shot sat away from his two female partners contemplating what went wrong on their mission and who is to blame.

"How do you think Garf's going to be treated by those heroes?" a worried redhead whispered to her blonde friend

"I don't think he's the one we should be worried about right now- at least we know they won't kill him, we can't be so sure about our own fate" Artemis replied looking out the window of the black SUV that picked them up from their transport plane, she let out a heavy sigh as the vehicle came to stop in front of the warehouse that disguised the Shadow's base "well let's just get this over with, there's a few things I want to clear up"

The three young assassins walked briskly into the building passing several guards that patrolled the perimeter and heading straight to the hidden elevator that would lead them to the floors below. They headed to B3, the level where they received mission briefings, and they all knew who would be waiting for them but worse of all they knew he would be angry.

Not being one to disappoint the moment the elevator doors opened sportsmaster called them to the center of the room. His face had a neutral expression but his eyes betrayed his anger "who would like to explain why the league has Hedrick and Beast Boy?" the man asked in his gruff voice

"Sir we did not expect…" SLAM sportsmaster used his right arm to back slap Hot Spot mid sentence and sent him violently tumbling to the floor. The boy looked up from the ground tasting blood in his mouth and stared first to the man that hit him and then to his companions. He bit his lip to keep from saying something that could further anger the blonde man and get him killed.

"Did I ask for excuses?" sportsmaster yelled walking up to the boy and pulling him to his feet by his shirt collar "because of your failure we have to abandon this base and set up elsewhere, do you realize how much this could set us back! It would have been better if all of you had died with Hedrick then letting him get away!"

"Tigress and I… we killed Robin… she threw his body off a cliff" Hot Spot said desperately trying to take the man's focus off of him

"Is this true?" sportsmaster asked as he dropped the boy to his feet and walked over to his daughter "Did you really kill that bird?" Artemis looked him straight in the eyes but did not answer "I asked you a question girl, now answer it" he yelled as he swung him arm to hit her but she dodged to the side, grabbed his hand and threw him over her shoulder.

"Yes I threw him off a cliff, but right now I want to know what's going on" Artemis said with defiance in her voice as her father jumped to his feet

"Artemis what are you doing" Barbra asked in alarm over her friends actions

"Those people, those heroes…they knew me and I can't shake the feeling that I know them. This whole time I kept having visions and dreams about them… about memories I shouldn't have. You both have to agree this is wrong, nothing here feels right" Artemis had barely finished speaking when her father launched another attack; he threw one of his javelins at her legs that caused her to jump to the side. The instant her feet left the ground he spun around and kicked her square in the back sending her flying into the wall.

"You get your brains from your mother, or lack thereof… if only you didn't focus on the pass you could be one of our greatest assassins" sportsmaster said as he grabbed his daughter by the neck and pushed her back into the wall, Artemis withered in pain at the pressure on her throat "but there's still time, with a few altercations, the next time you see those pathetic sidekicks you'll be able to kill them with no hesitation"

"Did you kill my mother?" she asked through gritted teeth while trying to fight for her breath

"Personally no, but I ordered the hit, I told them where and how to kill her. I wanted to make you suffer, your far to week because of that worthless woman" sportsmaster said slowly taking pleasure in the pain and anger that crossed his youngest face

Two swirling disks spun around sportsmaster and then landed on his back releasing a charge of electricity that caused the man to lose his grip on his daughter. While sportsmaster was still engulfed by the electricity Barbra ran up to her friend and pulled her to her feet. She dragged the coughing archer several feet before Artemis was finally able to breathe again "Babs what are you doing?"

"Well you're not the only one who didn't think this was right, I also have a feeling that someone's waiting for me to come home" the redhead confided as the two girls ran for the exit. They had almost reached the elevator door when a wall of fire stopped them in their tracks; they turned to see their team leader on his feet surrounded by several guards he had called for backup

"Ish what are you doing? Don't you see they've been using us!? Your being a fool!" Artemis yelled hoping to get through to the dark skinned boy.

By this time the electric shot had already subsided and sportsmaster was standing next to Isaiah "No you two are being the fools! Did you really think you could just run away? This is our lives, stop trying to make up some fantasy world to escape it"

Sportsmaster placed his hand on the boy's shoulder "this one truly is our most prized creation" he laughed "the perfect product of all our hard work". The wall of fire died as sportsmaster took another step forward raising one hand to signal to his guards to apprehend the girls "take them to Cell 23 and perform protocol 7 until we are ready to send them to the new base for reprogramming" the two girls gasped at the news and tried to fight off their captors, but inhibitor colors were quickly placed on their necks and with the press of a button they were shocked into submission "Isaiah join the evacuation process, we blow the base in four hours and all sensitive information must be moved or destroyed before then"

* * *

><p>Within the walls of Mt. Justice the cave was alive with activity. Miss Martian and her uncle were in an interrogation room trying to help Garfield sort through his memories with Red Tornado and the Flash in the next room interrogating Dr. Hedrick.<p>

Kaldur, Zatanna and Conner who had just returned from a mission were being brought up to speed, while Kid Flash paced in the infirmary waiting for Batman to finish looking over Robin.

"KF could you please stop pacing it's starting to get on my nerves" the boy wonder spoke while pulling away from his mentors grip as he hopped of the examining table "ok Batman I think it's pretty clear that all my wounds are healed, even though my costume is shredded to peaces I'm completely fine thanks to Artemis"

"I think it's time you tell us what exactly happened on that cliff" the dark night asked his young protégé, Robin sighed as he thought back to what had occurred earlier that day.

_Artemis had just reached where the injured Robin lay and pulled him to his feet "Artemis you're not one of them" the boy wonder pleaded hoping that deep down this girl was still the archer he grew to love as a sister_

"_I know" this statement took the young hero by surprise, almost making him unaware to what the blonde girl was doing – she was healing his wounds, taking more pain away every moment. He could see her face scrunch up as she tried to hold all of his pain in._

"_Wait you know? Then why are you still with them, why haven't you left?" Robin asked in a whisper not wanting the boy who had attacked him to hear their private conversation _

"_I don't know what's going on, I don't know if I can trust my own memories or if I should trust my dreams, but I am sure that I'm not meant to be an assassin" Artemis said as she looked at him with sad grey eyes_

"_Then come with us, I promise we'll protect you and help you remember who you really are" the young girl's heart warmed when she saw the sincerity in his eyes _

"_No, I may be confused but I know that man, sportsmaster, really is my father. I need to confront him about all this… I need to know what's really going on" the archer responded _

"_He could kill you" Robin blurted out the moment she had said this and he then realize that all his injuries had been healed_

"_Well you're the hero, come save me then" and with a sad smile she pushed the boy off the cliff, but not to his death because she knew that a fall like this would be nothing for the boy wonder to handle_

"Wait when we found you, you said Artemis healed your wounds not threw you off a cliff" Kid Flash said as his friend finished his story

"She threw me off after she healed my wounds. She knew I'd survive, otherwise that flaming kid would have finished me off" Robin said putting his arm around Kid Flashes shoulder to lead him out the door "but since I'm not dead why don't we see what the good doctor knows about where Artemis and the others are"

"Red Tornado and Flash will let us know the instant they find something out" Batman said as he reached a hand to his protégé to stop him from interrupting the interrogation

The moment Batman had stopped speaking Flash came running into the room "the doctor sung like a canary, Red has even crossed checked the info and we believe that we've found the base"

* * *

><p>Minutes later almost everyone in the cave was assembled in the beefing room "the location of the Shadows base is near Gotham Harbor near the warehouse district" the dark night said as he brought up images of the one warehouse in particular "we've confirmed that this is their base that they have been keeping all the children that have been taken and experimented on. The logo on the building even coincided with the image that the woman the team saved in Africa described"<p>

"Alright if we know where they are let's get the whole league out here and kick some butt" Kid Flash said speeding in front of every one

"It's not that simple kid" Flash said as he ran to his nephew's side placing a hand on his shoulder "the league monitors every country in the world and must be ready to respond in case of any incidents"

"What does that mean then" Zatanna said responding to the confusion in Kid Flash's eyes

"It means that the only ones available for this mission are already here" Martian Manhunter said in a cool and calming voice "and even then not all of us can go, for someone must stay to watch over our guests"

"I will stay behind" Red Tornado said with his robotic voice "with my skills it would be no problem to watch over multiple people at once"

"What about GA shouldn't someone tell him we found Artemis' location?" Superboy asked looking around the room

"I will tell him, however, early last night Canary went into labor and has yet to deliver. The doctors fear they may need to perform a caesarean" Batman said answering Superboy's question

"Oh no will she be ok?" Me'gan asked concerned for both the mother and baby

"It's a routine procedure but it means recovery would take longer" Flash responded

"Ok now that everything's settled let's get going" Robin said speaking up "every moment we waste is another moment Artemis and the rest of those children are at the mercy of the Shadows"

**A/N: Yes finally these last two weeks are over :) why can life go from being calm to really hectic and stressful? Sorry for the delay but life decided to bite me in the butt, but its ok now because I got it back on its leash. I just have to say I loved this week's episode; I can't wait to find out who the light's partner is. As always my thanks go out to ****alamodie, unsanctuaire, SuperGLEEK97, Believe-daydream-Fly529, A2ID, and ****Alex Skywalker for leaving such awesome reviews :) **


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters**

Artemis and Barbra were being forcibly led through the long hallways of the shadow's base. There were two guards in front and two behind roughly pushing them forward with knives to the back of their heads. Artemis would have loved nothing more than two punch the Neanderthals in the face, but that was out of the question because of the restraints keeping her hands firmly behind her back. She looked over to see the troubled expression her friend was wearing "it's going to ok Babs, we'll get out of this" she whispered

The other girl looked up at her friend's voice "How can you be so sure? I've heard protocol seven is the worst but I don't really know what to expect"

A guard behind them started to laugh "What to expect? How about your worst fears" the rest of the guards joined him in his laughter

"This was a private conversation, we don't need input from brain dead morons" Artemis answered turning around to glare at the first guard who quickly punched the girl in the back sending her fumbling to the floor. Barbra was at her side in an instant unable to help her up due to her own restraints.

"If you want to live much longer you should learn to guard your tongue" said the guard as he roughly pulled the archer to her feet by her arm. The moment she found her balance she jerked her limb away "besides you should save your voice for pleading for help once the protocol is started"

"You won't be hearing my voice" the blonde said as the guards continued walking forcing their charges to do the same "we'll see about that" one of the guards sneered

As the girls continued to walk they both began to think about what little they knew about this particular punishment. To their knowledge it had only been used once on a kid who lived on the base, apparently he was quite the troublemaker and rebel but after a day of treatment he became the model assassin the shadows wanted. To those who knew him he was a completely different person.

'So whatever this is it's meant to break your spirit, makes sense soft clay is easier to mold then hard' Artemis thought to herself as she continued to walk 'but I won't let them break me, I can't' suddenly the guards stopped in front of a big metal door which opened to reveal a small room with several chairs in the center lined up in a circle. Each chair seemed harmless enough with the only disconcerting features being the attached braces meant to hold ones arms and legs in place "A waiting room really? Are you going to try and bore us to death" Barbra said as she was pushed into the room

"Just give it a few minutes, all this bravado you two have will soon disappear" the second guard said as he pushed Barbra down in a chair while another guard tethered her legs into place and then her arms. On the opposite side of the circle Artemis was receiving the same treatment as her redheaded companion "besides protocol seven has nothing to do with this room, your only in those chairs to make sure you don't kill yourself" the guard continued giving them a evil grin as he walked towards a cabinet on the far side of the room. He pulled out two silver bands that almost look like futuristic sunglasses and four metal pins that appeared to be about an inch in diameter.

"Sorry to disappoint you but those glasses are just not my style, but I'm sure if you wear them all the other criminals will think your cool" Artemis sneered as the guard approached her "but be careful if you do that because those look like something the joker would wear, you might just have him after you for stealing his look" Barbra continued sarcastically after her friends statement

Though not without resistance the guard was finally able to place the bands on his two captive's heads. He then pulled out the pins and placed them right onto the girls temples "do you see these pins I just placed on your heads?" he said as he tapped hard onto the pin attached to Barbra's head causing her to wince "these are connected to your nervous systems, and these…" he walked over and tightened the band on Artemis' head causing her to grunt in pain "these make you see and hear whatever we want you two, and unfortunately for the both of you there set to make you live out all of your personal nightmares" he laughed as he walked over to the wall with the control module on it

"Do you really think you can hurt us with some fake nightmares!" Artemis yelled as the guard turned his back on them

"Oh this is real very real, you will feel everything as if it was happening right then and there because according to your brain it is" the guard turned around to face them one last time before flipped the switch "this has been designed to push even the strongest person mentally and physically over the edge, but don't worry the shadows will be here to pick up the pieces" and with that he activated the program. Before he even left the room he could already hear the two once fiery girls succumbing to their own personal terrors.

* * *

><p>The league and team members stood watching over the warehouses in Gotham, high above within the camouflaged bio-ship, with the glow of the city's lights behind them. The ground below was teeming with activity as men and women rushed off in every direction carrying objects and equipment from the base to cars that were constantly coming and going. Even though the movements and pace seemed hectic it was all still very organized and efficient "they seem to be leaving?" Zatanna stated confused by what she saw<p>

"Most likely they are changing locations due to the fact they could not secure Dr. Hedrick and expect him to reveal their secrets" Martian Manhunter said as he observed the people below

"Which is exactly what he did" Conner quickly added and then continued "but what about Artemis and the other children? Would they still be here?"

"Given the time restraints I highly doubt that the children have been moved yet" the Dark Knight said as he stood by the pilots chair and stepped closer to the group of heroes in the center "this move of theirs gives us an advantage, we can now use the weaknesses in their defenses to sneak into the base and find our targets" he held out his arm and after quickly typing onto his wrist computer he pulled up a holographic map of the area. He then zoomed into the particular warehouse the shadows were using as a base "scans reveal that there is an underground complex beneath the base" he looks over to the Martians "the both of you will enter the base through this area by fazing through the ground"

"That's an advanced technique that I have yet to perform" Miss Martian said in a worried tone while shyly grabbing one of her arms and looking down

"It ok, you have made much progress and I will be there to help you" her uncle said comforting her and giving her a boost in confidence

"The Flash an Kid Flash will enter at the front, speeding past any guards before they can be detected" Batman said bringing the focus back to the mission "after entering the base they will make their way down searching for the missing children, getting them out safely will be our top priority"

"Just give me thirty seconds and I'll sweep the whole base from top to bottom" Kid Flash said pounding his fists into the open palm of his other hand

"Don't go to fast, we don't want you running into a wall again and knocking yourself out" his uncle teased from behind him, which the youngest speedster responded almost in a whine "come on that only happened like three times"

"Ya but twice in the same day" the boy wonder answered causing his best friend to face palm and yell "dude" while the rest of their teammates lightly laughed at him

"It's good to be able to stay in high spirits under such circumstances, however let's not forget the importance of this mission" and with those few words from the Dark knight the room once again became serious "Aqua Lad you and Superboy will be staying outside the compound to provide backup"

"Why have us on backup when we could easily take out half of their men" Conner instantly spoke up irritated about being left out

Batman simply narrowed his eyes and spoke in a calm slow manner "The both of you will be there to control the situation on the outside, if something were to go wrong and we needed to leave immediately then the two of you would be our only defense keeping us from walking into an ambush" Superboy nodded his head in understanding like a chastised child

"What about me?" Zatanna said speaking up after she realized everyone but the dynamic duo had already been pair up

"You will be with us" Robin said as he walked to her side "we may need some of your special abilities"

"You, Robin and I will infiltrate the base from here" the Dark Knight said looking at the magician and then to the rest of the group while pointing at the map "we will be gathering data about this and other projects the shadows are working on, however our top priority will be to find Artemis and bring her back with us"

* * *

><p>Before any of them left the bio-ship the metal link was established by the two Martians. Aqua Lad and Super Boy stayed in the shadows just outside of the perimeter each quietly taking out any hostiles that strayed to close, and slowly reducing their enemy's numbers.<p>

The two Martians quickly became intangible and slipped below the surface to where the underground base laid waiting. Miss Martian had some trouble halfway through but with the help of her uncle she made it all the way. They were the first to actually make it inside. After entering the base they were surprised to see it look practically uninhabited "I can't sense anyone in the immediate area around us" Miss Martian said over the link

"Can you mentally scan the area to see where the children or any guards may be" Robin asked the Martians

"I will do it" Martian Manhunter spoke up "this is a high level technique that Me'gan has yet to learn" after several moments he continued "I have located several groups of people but am unable to identify who they are… I am now sending everyone the locations of those individuals, do keep in mind that some were on the move"

"Ten four good buddy" Flash said over the link as a response, then turned to his partner and spoke out loud "our route appears to be clear for the moment, are you ready"

"'Chh' I was ready 8.2 seconds ago when you needed to use the restroom" Kid Flash answered sarcastically while lowering his goggles to run

"What can I say running makes me have to go" Flash coolly answered back taking off after his protégé the moment he started to run, he then reported "me and the kid are on the go" to the rest of teammates

Once inside the speedsters quickly ran to the closest location to them where about eight individuals were inside a room. Outside the door they stopped to listen to see if they heard them and then slowly opened up the door to peek inside, which was extremely hard for a speedster. Suddenly Flash opened the door full swing to show eight children sprawled out on several cots not looking well. He quickly ran to one's side and checked his pulse "it looks like we found some of the children but there not looking to healthy" Kid Flash reported over the link

"We have also found a group of children in a similar state" Miss Martian reported

"If multiple kids that the shadows took are not doing well then what does that mean for Artemis?" Zatanna worriedly asked the two bats next to her. They had just entered the lower levels of the base and had already found a monitor connected to the main server. The group had entered under a cloaking spell courtesy of their local magician and had quickly disabled any security devices before the shadows could detect any of their presences.

"We can't be sure until we find her" was all that the Dark Knight replied. They had already collected valuable information from the terminal before they set off to look for their missing archer. The group soon came to a spacious room that nearly seemed empty… except for two people standing in the center.

"Sportsmaster" Robin grunted through gritted teeth

"Hey don't forget I'm here to" Hot Spot said from right besides the notorious villain "and them..." he finished while pointing to where a dozen guards had gathered behind the heroes. Instantly alarms went off alerting the whole base to the presence of intruders and within moments every teammate they had within the base was surrounded by enemies.

**A/N: Well one day later then I wanted but at least I finally found time :) how many people watched the ep 'Before the Dawn'. It was so awesome! But then had me really sad that I could not see another ep until January – stupid cartoon network :/ thanks so much to Believe****-daydream-Fly529 and alamodie for leaving reviews :) **


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters**

Two guards ran down the narrow hallway as fast as they could while alarms and flashing red lights went off all around them. The two stopped when they came to a door being guarded by a man with a shaved head who was armed with a gun in his hand and a knife on his belt "what's the reason for all this noise!" the man yelled to be heard over the sirens

"Bent…" the first guard started as he tried to catch his breath "we're under attack by the justice league, we were by the labs when the alarm sounded off and down the hall I think I saw the Martian"

"What! Then why didn't you stay and fight" the man called Bent yelled right when the alarm died down but the lights still flashed, causing his voice to sound five times louder "are you cowards!"

"No" the second guard responded "but the boss contacted us and threatened if we didn't move those two" he indicated the door behind Bent with his thumb "off this base and to a secure location we would be the next ones to test out the shadows reprogramming methods"

"But they haven't been in there longer than half an hour, the process needs more time" Bent argued

"I don't really care what you think if boss man wants the two brats off this base then I'm dragging them off this base" the first guard argued back "apparently he would prefer us to kill'em before the Justice freaks get their hands on'em"

"Very well, but we're probably going to have to drag them out of here, this procedure is no walk in the park- I'd be impressed if they could even lift their heads up" Bent said as he turned to open the door

The room seemed oddly calm, Artemis and Barbra were still strapped to their chairs and the procedure was clearly running but the two were not screaming like any of the previous participants had done. Instead they were merely muttering unintelligible words "I can't tell if there tuff and are fighting the process or if they just gave up and succumbed to their worst fear, they might've even lost their minds" he laughed

"It really doesn't matter what state their in as long as we get'em out of here" the first guard said as Bent walked to the control module on the wall and terminated the protocol

The three men systematically removed the two girls of the bands and pins attached to their heads and then released the braces that kept their hand and feet tied down. Neither Artemis nor Barbra offered any resistance when they were lifter out of the chairs. Their heads hung limply forward with their eyes shut, Barbra had stopped muttering by then but Artemis continued.

The pair was pulled out of the room in an undignified manner by being carelessly thrown over the shoulders of Bent and the first guard. Artemis' head hung low with her waist next to Bent's head, and her arms dangled to his waist. Barbra was being held in a similar position.

The group was half way down the hall when Artemis mumbled again "what was that girl?" Bent asked as he stopped walking

This time Artemis responded louder "I said this hairless Neanderthal better get his hands off of me right now!" she yelled as she raised her leg and kicked him in the stomach. She started to fall head first but preformed a flip mid air to land on her feet.

"You little…" Bent didn't get to finish his statement before Barbra jabbed the man holding her in the neck causing him to stumble to the floor with the red head onto of him. Bent grabbed for his gun only to realize it was gone then he quickly reached for his knife which was also missing "what the hell, how did you…"

"Take your toys? Every kid who grew up in the slums of Gotham could have done the same" Artemis said as she held the gun pointed at Bent and the second guard "Barbra are you ok?" she asked her companion as the red head slowly came to her side

"Ya just a little shaky, but no worse for the ware" but Artemis could see her friend struggle to stay up, and she could tell that her own condition was not any better, even though time wise they were not in that room for long the process took much of their strength to resist.

"How can you two be ok? You should have been living your worst nightmares" Bent said in a low voice as he balled his hands into a fist

"Well that's all it was, a nightmare" Artemis began softly "My life was thrown down the toilet because of the shadows, my mom was killed right in front of me! Tell me if you can think of a worse nightmare then that!" she yelled gripping the gun tighter

"Artemis behind you!" Barbra yelled, the blonde turned just in time to see one of Sportsmaster minions come running down the hall with weapons in hand. Artemis quickly shot the man in the leg causing him to tumble to the ground she then turned to watch Barbra tackle the second guard and then kick him in the head to knock him out.

Barbra focusing on the target in front of her was unable to block the blow delivered by Bent which sent her flying into the wall unconscious.

"Babs" Artemis fired the gun again only to have it knocked out of her hand before she could hit her target. She dodged the punch, ducked under his legs and came up behind him. She was exhausted but her advantage was her speed and her opponent bulkiness. Quickly she jabbed him in the neck then hit several pressure points in rapid succession causing him to fall flat on the ground.

She let out a sigh as her opponent did not get up she took a step forward to check on Barbra when suddenly her side burst into pain… she looked down to see a knife protruding from her abdomen and turned around to see the man she shot in the leg sitting up with a smile on his face.

"Forgot about me didn't you" he laughed before Artemis out of pure reaction pulled the knife out and threw it at the once laughing man who simply crumbled to the ground.

She grabbed her side as she walked to her still unconscious friend. She paused momentarily when she saw blood dripping down Barbra's forehead but sighed in relief as she felt her friends pulse.

Artemis bent down pulling one of Barbra's arms around her shoulder and then lifted both of them up "Gees Babs you need to lay off the ice cream" she said to herself, she could almost hear Barbra respond "shut it Barbie ice creams your thing" but it was only her imagination her friend was dead to the world at that moment

Artemis continued walking the both of them down the hall past the body of the man that tried to kill her. She refused to look at him. He may have stabbed her but she only reacted out of pure instinct that comes with being an assassin, she didn't want to kill him, but that doesn't make the guilt any less. She silently vowed that she will never take another's life.

After stepping into another hallway she tumbled causing both her and Barbra to fall to the floor. Artemis landed a foot away from her friend; she took a deep breath as she gathered the rest of her strength to pull the both of them against the wall. Artemis gingerly placed Barbra's head in her lap as she fought to keep away the darkness. She looked at her side again to see that she had already lost a lot of blood.

The darkness slowly began to take over her vision when she heard footsteps walking towards her. Artemis turns her head to see her mother coming down the hall and bending down next to her "mom? But how" she whispers

"Shh its ok Artemis rest, you'll be home soon" Paula said soothingly as she pushed some lose hair away from her daughter's face

"I can't rest we could get attacked" Artemis responded clearly struggling to stay awake

"Don't worry I'll be by your side the whole time, I promise nothing will harm you while I'm here" Paula said as she pulled Artemis' hand to her face

"I missed you… mom" the young blonde said as tears began to fall from her eyes "I never got to tell you how much I loved you"

"It's ok sweetie, even if you were never good at expressing your feeling through words, I always knew you how much you cared" Paula leaned in and kissed Artemis on the forehead "now rest, we'll see each other again" and with that Artemis' world faded to black as her mental and physical pain drifted away.

**A/N: Happy late Halloween :) wow the last three months time has just been my enemy, I can't seem to grab it. Well the end of this story is almost here, I can hardly believe it. And a big help to keep me going has always been the reviewers :) so my thanks goes out to ****Alex Skywalker, SuperGLEEK97, and alamodie for taking the time and leaving such great reviews :) **


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice or its characters**

Superboy and Aqualad stood side by side as they faced any opponents that came at them; they guarded the only exit the team would use, on the side of the warehouse, in case of an emergency. The night was growing late and the two heroes grew more and more nervous by the second. Their moods were matched perfectly by the night sky which was crawling with dark clouds.

"What's taking them so long?" Connor grunted as he flung another goon to the side.

"You need not worry; our friends are well trained and capable fighters" the Atlantian boy responded to the young clones thought "we should trust them and only worry about our own jobs"

"I'm not worried, I just hate being on the cleanup crew out here while most of the team is working with their mentors" as soon as Connor finished speaking a rope wrapped around his neck as he was pulled into the shadows.

"Superboy!" Aqualad yelled while he ran to the aid of his friend. In a series of smooth and practiced moves the Atlantian boy quickly jumped over the fallen clone cutting the rope and hitting the assassin into the wall with his water bearers. Aqualad reached down offering a hand to his friend "do not be upset, Superman is trying, he just needs a little more time"

With a sigh Supeboy accepted the hand "ya that's what M'egan keeps telling me" the instant he was on his feet more assassins had already surrounded the young heroes "for real! How many of these freaks are there?"

Just as the duo was about to once again charge, a drop of rain landed on Aqualad's nose. He smiled as he said "it appears that fortune has decided to smile upon us" and with this the dark clouds erupted with a torrent of down pouring rain

"I wish he'd do more than just smile" Connor mumbled to himself

* * *

><p>Deep within the shadow's base Batman, Robin and Zatanna were surrounded with no choice but to fight their way through. Zatanna was easily handling Sportsmasters cronies while the bat and the bird were busy fighting the man himself and his new favorite tool, Hot Spot.<p>

"You know I never understood why villains think you two are such a threat?" Hot Spot taunted as he sent flames hurtling towards the boy wonders feet "it was so easy tricking you last time"

"Well is wont be like that this time, I'm fighting for someone and I refuse to let them slip away again" Robin answered as he flung a birdarang straight for Hot Spots face which he dodged

"Don't get your hopes up kid, if it's my little girl you want, she's either dead or long off this base" Sportsmaster taunted as he threw a javelin towards the Dark Knight "I mean I can't be too sure with that punishment I ordered them"

"You do not have the right to call Artemis your 'little girl' not after what you did to her" Batman grunted as he flung his fist at Sportsmasters face making solid contact

Sportsmaster merely backed up and laughed while spitting out some blood "I have every right, if it wasn't for me she'd never have been born, she never would have gained all the power she has now and because of that I have the right to use her in whatever way I see fit" the blonde man said as he threw several more explosives at the capped crusader and another heading towards an otherwise occupied magician.

Batman quickly realized the unsuspecting target and threw a batarang intercepting the projectile in midflight, however, in doing this he gave the perfect opportunity for Sportsmaster to lung at him with a knife. As quick as the bat is he could not avoid the dagger completely and was slashed on his thigh.

"You should do more to stay focused Batman, you don't want to be cut by a poisoned knife" the blonde man laughed holding up the weapon as the Dark Knight fell to his knee

"Batman!" Robin yelled when he saw his mentor fall. He was just about to aid his father but before he could he was tackled to the ground by Hot Spot, whose hands burned his skin on contact

"Oh no bird boy you should focus more on me than them" the dark skinned teen yelled as he increased the temperature in his hands.

"tel retaw llaf"

Suddenly a large amount of water fell onto the two fighting teens giving Robin just enough time to throw the flaming boy off of him and launch several ice pellets. _"Thanks Zee" _he thanked the Raven haired girl over the link _"I'll always have your back Rob"_ she hurriedly responded focusing on the few remaining goons

Looking over, Robin could see his mentor deflecting several of Sortsmaster's blows, it quickly became apparent that his mentor was able to inject anti venom, however that wouldn't last long.

Hot Spot was already melting his way through the ice and he looked as mad heck "I see you didn't like that little time out I gave you, but really you just looked too hot" Robin taunted making sure he had his complete attention.

"_Zee once you're done fighting with those goon I need you to go look for Artemis" _Robin said speaking through the telepathic link as he dodged a volley of fire attacks.

"_Why? I'm almost done with these guys wouldn't it be easier if I helped you fight as well?"_ the magician questioned back as she turned her opponents shoes into glue stopping them in their tracks

"_Robin's right with what Sportsmaster said we need to find Artemis immediately, who knows what that punishment was"_ the Dark Knight said agreeing with Robin _"and if possible you need to sneak away without them noticing"_

"_Alright"_ the magician agreed "_but with the way you two are fighting I don't think that will be to hard" _

Zatanna took in a deep breath and prepared to cast her spell "nrut em elbisivin" with that the raven haired girl disappeared from the site of her opponents but before they could react they were attacked again "gag meht … ytivarg esaercni". The goons were soon left on the floor unable to talk or move. However, the quick succession of spells left Zatanna dizzy and weak, reminding her why her father always used to warn her about using too much power at one time.

"No time to get tired now, Artemis is counting on you" the still invisible girl mumbled to herself, and with no further obstacles she ran out of the room determined to find their missing archer.

* * *

><p>Miss Martian and her Uncle were quickly surrounded once the alarms went off, but unlike his niece, J'ohn didn't seem to worry. "<em>M'egan I think this is a perfect opportunity for you to practice your mental invasion skills"<em> the green man said telepathically to the young girl

"_What? Are you sure Uncle J'ohn? If I don't do it right I could send them into a coma for the rest of their lives" _the teen answered back fear evident in her voice

"_I understand you are nervous, but I also know that you are ready"_ her uncle said while slowly turning towards her and smiling "_besides I cannot think of anyone more suitable to practice on then these people here in front of us"_

"Hey have you not been listening? I said place your hands on your heads and get on the floor" yelled one of their attackers that have obviously never fought against a Martian before

"_Ok M'egan you can do this, just remember what Uncle J'ohn has taught you" _the Martian girl thought to herself before she took a deep breath and went into their minds.

The guards had no clue what was happening but once the young girl's eyes became green it was too late for all of them. The men immediately started to grab their heads as they fell to their knees, they were moaning as if in pain, causing Miss Martian to hesitate.

"It's ok M'egan, if you falter now it will do more harm than good" J'ohn said as he placed a hand on the girls shoulder. With eyes still glowing green she nodded and continued "now remember look for key words to help you navigate and find information"

In moments her eyes stopped glowing causing all of the men to fall to the ground with a painful thump. "Opps…" the young girl said as she looked at the fallen assassins but she could not hide the joy in her voice "I did it Uncle J'ohn just like you said" she spoke as she levitated while spinning in circles only to land and give her Uncle a big hug

"Yes, you did great… a bit rough… but great for your first attempt" he smiled back at her truly proud at what she'd done "where you able to find the information we need?"

With the biggest smile the girl joyously answered "yep"

* * *

><p>After finding the eight sick children Flash wasted no time in checking all their vitals "they seem to be stable for the moment…" he said looking over at his young partner "but they still need to be brought to a hospital and fast"<p>

"Then what are we waiting for? Lets kick it in high gear and move these…" before Kid Flash could finish speaking several guards ran in and started firing at them.

"You're not going anywhere speed freaks" the guards yelled while hopelessly trying to hit one of the speedsters

"What do you think you're doing? You're going to hit one of the children" Flash yelled as he tried to lure their fire away from the kids

"Children?" the man laughed "these aren't children just failed projects that are destined to die" as he said the last few words he shot directly at a defenseless child. Flash, being the fastest man alive, moved the child before he could be hit, while Kid Flash went after the guards and relieved them of their weapons.

Kid Flash stopped right in front of them and in a calm voice said "now who do you think are the failures?" just before he punched each one of them in the face as fast and hard as he could.

"I give you points for justice but zero for style" Flash said as he came up to the side of his protégé

"What do you mean zero? What would you…" once again, before the young speedster could finish he was cut off by Miss Martian with the mental link

"_Flash, Kid are you guys there?"_

Flash just chuckled at the look he received from his young partner as he was cut off "_yes where here and we've taken care of all the guards that are in our vicinity"_

"_Good so have we and I've found the locations of all the children here on the base we need your speed to get them all out" _Miss M explained while she and her Uncle were already levitating some of the children to the extraction point

"_Artemis has to be among them… ok just tell us where we need to go" _Kid answered back while clinching his fists determined to find her

* * *

><p>Dodging another attack Robin managed to back flip right next to his mentor just as he sent Sportsmaster flying across the room. "We need to end this, the longer we fight the more advantage they gain" Batman said to his young protégé<p>

"What's the plan" Robin asked, with his only answer being a small smile

"Well if you two are done saying good bye I think it's time we ended this" Sportsmaster said while throwing several javelin in their direction followed by a blast of fire

Robin quickly shot a grappling hook and ascended to the large support beams for the room all the while being followed by wave after wave of fire. It did not take long for the roof to catch ablaze for although the area below was fire proof, the ceiling did not have that same ability.

"Watch what you're doing boy!" Sportsmaster yelled while fighting off Batman

"I think it's you who should be watching" Batman said just as he threw several batarangs towards the light fixtures causing the room to go completely dark except for the faint glow of the burning roof.

"Do you think I'm afraid of the dark?" Sportsmaster questioned in anger "I live in the dark!"

"No you live in the shadows..." Batman said completely out of site of Sportsmaster "I live in the dark" popping out of nowhere Batman was able to knock the sports themed villain off his feet just as the fire from the roof set off the sprinkler system. The room was then showered upon with heavy cascading water causing Hot Spot to lose his flames.

With his signature ninja laugh echoing in the room Robin snuck behind Hot Spot hitting him right behind the head quickly followed by a flying kick to the back causing him to crumble to the floor.

Sportsmaster having been disorientated by Batman was unable to avoid two electric batarangs, this coupled with his drenching body sent him swiftly to unconsciousness. The dynamic duo wasted no time at all in tying the two villains together.

"That should hold them" Robin said while getting up to face his mentor

Just as Batman was about to respond Zatanna's frantic voice could be heard over the mental link _"Robin, Batman anybody…"_

"_Zee what is it? What's wrong?_" the boy wonder question fear rising within him

"_Its Artemis… she's hurt bad"_

**A/N: I know that there is no excuse for why this took so long but with several medical scares for me and my family and all this family drama I couldn't bring myself to write. But thanks to several pushy (I say that with love) reviewers I was able to write this chapter. So those few who pushed and threatened (you know who you are) I dedicate this chapter to you :) **


	25. final chapter

**No excuse... I am sorry it took so long. this story has been on my mind so often but i was embarrassed to continue it. The biggest reason perhaps for this long delay was because of the shows cancellation :( it took me a while to get over the fact that we may never know the fate of our beloved speedster. so without further delay... the final chapter. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own young justice or any of it's characters **

_Artemis stood in a square room with no windows or doors. The walls were grey and the only light was coming from a single light bulb hanging above her head that would periodically flicker as if it were dying. There was no sound in the room, no movement in the air, and the atmosphere was oppressing making it hard for her to even stand. _

_Artemis began to walk towards one wall with an arm out stretched ready to touch it, however she soon realized the wall was still the same distance away; every step she'd take would leave her in the same spot she began in. She tried to reach out towards the other walls but to no avail, each one was just out of her reach. A low malevolent voice spoke, seeming to come from all directions, "Why are you fighting Artemis? Would it not be easier to just let the darkness over take you and sleep?" _

"_I'm tired of being in the dark" Artemis spoke in a hushed tone looking at the floor almost as if speaking any louder would shatter the fragile world around her_

"_Why do you reject darkness like the light rejects you? You were born in the shadows, what could there possibly be for you on the other side?" the voice questioned again, the room temperature dropping with every word it spoke_

"_I don't know exactly but there is something for me there, but if I were to call it anything I would call it hope" the archer answered the voice, this time bring her head up and speaking louder _

"_Hope?" the voice mocked in fake humor "What would a person such as you know about hope. You were born to kill there is nothing for you but death and destruction" _

"_No you're wrong; I can do more than kill!" she yelled but the voice's only response was a deep laughter _

_The laughter grew louder and louder causing Artemis to block her ears with her hands and crouch to the floor. The room around her started to spin until she was left in nothing but a dark abyss, alone with no other sounds or senses but her own thoughts which were desperately trying to convince an unseen force to let her go_

"_Why are you hiding?" a young girls voice breaks through the depressing silence_

"_What?" Artemis replies as she looked up from her crouching position to see a young blonde girl who could be no older than 8 or 9. She wore worn oversized coveralls with a white under shirt and old sneakers. Her hair was in a small pony tail and in her hands was a beat up teddy bear. This little girl glowed with an unearthly light in the over whelming darkness surrounding the distraught archer. _

"_Why are you hiding?" the young girl repeated tilting her head slightly as if looking at an interesting puzzle_

"_I'm not hiding, I'm trapped here in the dark with no way out" Artemis said defensively getting on her knees to look at the girl better_

"_You're not trapped you're just not trying" the young girl said taking a step back and smirking at the older girls reaction_

"_What?" Artemis yelled jumping to her feet in anger at what the child had just said "What do you think I've been doing this whole time?"_

"_I don't know what have you been doing this whole time?" the girl asked with a now serious face._

_Artemis could no longer take the girl's presences. She was insulting the archer's pride by insinuating that she has done nothing to help herself. Out of a fit of anger, She grabbed the child's shoulders and yelled "you don't understand anything, I'm trying to leave this place but I have no idea how". The young girl stood unshaken by the blonde's recent outburst, she simply held sympathetic eyes. _

_The anger quickly evaporated from the archer as she spoke calmer "I don't want to be alone again" a moment of hesitation "I'm afraid of being lost". Artemis had her head cast down as she spoke these words not willing to say them to anyones face not even, as she just realized, a younger version of herself. _

_Artemis heard a soft giggle from her younger self that quickly turned into a loud laughter. In surprise the archer looked up to see a bright light emanating from the girl "why do you think you will end up alone?" the young girl stated in between laughter "you have so many people who care about you". As these words were spoken the light that was shining out from the girl completely engulfed the darkness; displays and flashes of memories floated through the air. Artemis recognized these memories as her own. _

"_They are my team mates aren't they" Artemis spoke as images of her friends appeared before them "these are my real memories, these are the people I truly care about"_

"_Yes, they are" the child spoke as she began to fade away "now the real question is what will you do now with the information you possess"_

_Artemis understood what the young girl meant. She had done some terrible things while under her father's influence and was afraid to face the consequences. Deep down she knew that her friends and the league would hold nothing against her but how could she face them again._

_As she was pondering her actions and what they meant the image of her father formed in front of her. Startled Artemis stepped back fear rising in her stomach "baby girl, do you really think you can go back? After everything you did?" her father stated chuckling to himself "just close your eyes, if you're lucky maybe you can see your mother again" _

_At the thought of her mother, Artemis became calmer wishing at that moment to be with her mom. Her eyes became heavy and her thoughts clouded…_

"Artemis!... please come back"

"_Dick?" Artemis questioned_

"Come on Artemis please I can't lose you now!"

"_Wally? Where are you guys?" the young archer questioned as her head began to clear. _

"_Ignore them baby girl" her father stated as he stepped forward to grab her, but Artemis backed away._

"_I'm not your baby girl, they are my real family not you" Artemis state defiantly to her father's image. As she was speaking apparitions of her friends appeared behind her; Artemis looked back and smiled "and it's time I went back to them". _

* * *

><p>The room was cool and calm, soft noise from the medical equipment filled the room. Artemis opened her eyes to see white washed walls and the bright lights of the infirmary room of Mount Justice shining upon her. She looked around again and noticed the almost comical positions her team mates where sleeping in scattered across the floor.<p>

Aqualad laid closest to the door sitting asleep cross legged with his hands in his lap and head down. If anyone were to think otherwise they would simply assume he was meditating.

Not far from the dark skinned hero was the team's resident sorceress. Zatanna it seems conjured up a pillow to rest her head on a small couch that lays no more than 6 feet from the bed Artemis was currently residing in. She found it odd how her friend could sleep with one foot hosted up against the wall while the other hung unceremoniously of the edge.

To the young archer's great relief and joy she noticed that beast boy was now resting his head in M'egan's lap. It occurred to Artemis that her team was able to break the shadows hold over the young boy. Artemis had to stifle a giggle when she noticed the still brooding face of superboy, no doughtily brought upon by his inability to cuddle with his girlfriend when the green boy is currently hogging her.

Lastly Artemis noticed that on either side of her were Robin and Kid Flash, both occupying the only two chairs in the room next to her bed. The two had their heads resting on her lap, hands out stretched to hold her own. Normally Artemis would quickly move her hand away from theirs out of embarrassment, but today she was truly relieved to have them there to confirm this was not some dream.

Not wanting to wake her friends yet, Artemis sat there enjoying the reality of finally being free from the shadows and her father's grip. While, for all she knew, they could still posse a very real threat to her, Artemis now took comfort in the fact that she knows beyond all doubt that she belongs with her team, her family.

* * *

><p>Robin has always been a light sleeper so it was only natural that it did not take him long to wake up after the archer. He first began to stir when he notice Artemis' hand was no longer in his own. In a panic he bolted straight up ready to fight anyone who would attempt to take her again. His eyes quickly scanned the room but stopped when he noticed a pair of grey ones staring right back at his.<p>

"Artemis he whispered" almost afraid that any loud noise would send his friend, his sister, into unconsciousness again.

"Better be careful there Robin if you start crying the team will never let you live it down" Artemis said as she went to hold his hand. In truth she would not be able to stop herself from joining him if he began to cry.

"Artemis I'm so glad you're ok" Robin said as he jumped to give her a big hug but let go as soon as she let lose a hiss from the pain. "I'm so sorry Artemis I didn't mean for that to hurt, are you ok?"

"I'm fine, well I think I will be any way" the young archer responded after noticing the boy wonder's worried face. "Can you tell me what happened?"

Robin's face dropped for a moment then he looked Artemis straight in the eyes and began his explanation "After fighting though the henchmen the league was able to find and rescue the abducted kids. It was only after our fight finished with Sportsmaster and Hot Spot that Zatanna found you"

Artemis quickly interrupted him at the mention of her biological father "did the league capture them?" she asked hopefully. Robin's only response was to sadly shake his head.

"No, while we were rushing to get to you they managed to escape" Artemis simply nodded telling him to continue "you were in terrible condition when we arrived. It took all of our power to keep you well enough to make it to the mountain." Robin paused afraid to say his next few words "Artemis your heart stopped for three minutes… you died"

For some reason she was not surprised by this fact, probably it's because of ptsd or that strange dream she had just made more sense to her now. Artemis calmly asked "then how come I'm here now?"

"Batman said that if it was not for your newly acquired power the shadows gave you, you'd be gone forever" Robin stated worried how she would react

"Well I blame them for this whole mess anyway so at least there stupid experiment helped me live… but I've no plans to ever use that power again unless in extreme cases of emergency" Artemis finished gravely getting a bitter taste in her mouth just thinking about what they did to her.

A few seconds passed in comfortable silence when she suddenly remembered Barbra "Oh my god Babs! Robin, where's Babs?" Artemis yelled frantically.

"She's alright, Artemis, She's in the room next door with her father" Robin said as he tried to push the archer back so she would not hurt herself.

"Wait? Gordon is here?" she asked with a skeptical face "I'm surprised the league allowed it"

"Well it's under the condition he does not leave the room without an escort but he readily agreed to it" the boy wonder explained remembering how excited he was to hear his little girl was safe again. "and don't worry Babs is already up and around they are thinking of letting her return home soon"

"I'm glad to hear that. I don't know what…" Artemis was interrupted by a shout of joy coming from the red head beside her.

"Artemis you're awake!" awoken from the recent shouts from the archer Wally was quickly up and about spinning around the whole room in joy and relief "I was so afraid I had lost you"

The energy and shouts quickly caused the rest of the room's occupants to arouse and join in the celebration. Everyone was talking at once toward the poor archer that she had to put her hands up and yell "guys I'm ok but I can't understand all of you at once"

"We are just happy for your recovery" Aqualad stated first in his formal speech unable to hide the joy in his eyes.

"We missed you so much Artemis" Zatanna yelled as she ran to hug the archer. Artemis tried to hold in the grunt of pain so she wouldn't hurt her friend's feelings.

Artemis noticed over her friends shoulder the team's speedster practically vibrating in place. "Wally, are you ok?" Artemis asked confused by his behavior.

Before anyone in the room could turn to look at the speedster he rushed to Artemis' side and placed his hands on her cheeks while moving forward to kiss her. The kiss lasted no more than ten seconds but to the speedster and archer it was an eternity. The room was so quiet a needle being dropped could have been heard. "Artemis…" Wally began "I um… I sorry I should have been there for you this should have never happened. I wanted to rush to your side the second I heard about your mom but I didn't know what to do and then you got kidnapped and I thought I lost you. So I'm not going to waste time in saying I like you, I really like you and I don't care if you hate me for it now but I had to say it" the speedster stated all in a rush causing those around him to stain to understand.

The message, however, was received loud and clear to Artemis who blushed at the suddenness of his confession, not to mention in the presence of all of her friends. "I don't hate you Wally" the archer smirked "and as for the kiss… it's about time"

At this Wally jumped in the air punching an invisible enemy to celebrate as the rest of the room's occupants laughed along, stating 'it's about time those two got together'.

The merriment was cut short as the sound of a voice being cleared could be heard from the doorway. The noise drew everyone's attention to Batman standing a foot within the room. "Team, I understand your excitement over Artemis' recovery but remember that she only just woke up and needs time to completely heal" the Dark Night stated as he approached the bed "I think it's time all of you returned to your own rooms for now, Artemis will be here in the morning"

After several quick good byes the room was soon empty leaving only the archer and the caped crusader alone. Artemis was starting to feel uncomfortable in the silence when the Dark Night began to speak "you had me worried Artemis"

"uh… I'm sorry" Artemis began but was unable to finish her thought

"It is no one's fault but the Shadows and Sportsmaster and we will never let them have you again" Batman said strongly looking toward his daughter "I am… no we are all relived to have you come home" a smile appeared upon the infamous Dark Night a smile that obviously belonged to Bruce Wayne, her new father "just make sure your more careful from now on, Alfred said if this happens again he will physically secure you in your room for your own safety"

Artemis laughed at the thought of the old butler trying to ground here, but then realized that he was probably serious. The archer looked up at her mentor and saw a serious look on his face. Batman knelt down next to her bed "seriously, Artemis, I can't stand to lose another member of my family" at this he gave his daughter a quick hug and with a "good night" he left the room. For the first time in months Artemis fell into a peaceful sleep knowing full well that she was safe at last.

**A/N: i want to thank all of you who read my story and reviewed it :) if it was not for those reviews i may have never mustered up the courage to finish this. Feel free to tell me how it all came together in the end and if you like it or not as a whole. Thank you again for your time :) **


End file.
